Potentially Hazardous Object (PHO) 2013 TV135 Daniel R

Home , 2013 EC, 2013 TV135, Expedition 31, Scott Carpenter, Scott Kelly (astronaut)

Volume 39 The Newsletter of AIAA Houston Section November / December 2013 Issue 3 The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics www.aiaahouston.org

Potentially Hazardous Object (PHO) 2013 TV135 Daniel R. Adamo, Astrodynamics Consultant

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 1 [Near the top of every page is an invisible link to return to this page. The link is in located here (the blue bar), but not all pages display this bar.]

November / December 2013 Horizons, Newsletter of AIAA Houston Section

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

Chair’s Corner, by Michael Frostad 3 From the Editor, by Douglas Yazell 4

Potentially Hazardous Object (PHO) 2013 TV135, by Daniel R. Adamo 5 Kelly’s Corner #1: Comments on a magazine article: Son of Blackbird 15 The Enigmatic Giant Polygons of Mars, Dr. Dorothy Z. Oehler 16

Horizons is a bimonthly publication of the Houston Section Short Report from the Golden Spike Workshop, Larry Jay Friesen 20 of The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Chapter 12 (Houston) of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) 23 Douglas Yazell, Editor Horizons team: Dr. Steven E. Everett, Ellen Gillespie, The 15th Anniversary of the International Space Station, Olivier Sanguy 24 Shen Ge, Don Kulba, Alan Simon, Ryan Miller Regular contributors: The 1940 Air Terminal Museum at Hobby Airport 27 Dr. Steven E. Everett, Douglas Yazell, Scott Lowther, Philippe Mairet, Wes Kelly, Triton Systems LLC Prepared at the request of 3AF MP, the Late (1925-2013) Scott Carpenter 28 Contributors this issue: James C. McLane III, Jim Wes- sel, Michael Frostad, Dr. Patrick E. Rodi, Daniel R. Dinner Meeting Presentation, Part 3 of 6, The Late James C. McLane, Jr. 33 Adamo, Astrodynamics Consultant, Dr. Stanley G. Love AIAA Houston Section Automated Transfer Vehicle Disintegrates, as Expected (CNES) 34 Executive Council Climate Change and Local Responses 36 Michael Frostad Chair The JSC Astronomical Society (JSCAS), Astronomer’s Chair, James Wessel 37

Dr. Michael Martin Shen Ge JSCAS Calendars/The Antarctic Search for Meteorites: Dr. Stanley G. Love 38 Chair-Elect Secretary Comet ISON: AWOL, Dr. Patrick E. Rodi 43 Daniel Nobles Jennifer Wells Past Chair Treasurer Section News: Calendar & Cranium Crunchers 44

Eryn Beisner Clay Stangle Organization Charts (3AF MP & Our Section) & Student Section News 46 Vice-Chair, Operations Vice-Chair, Technical The Back Cover: NASA’s Asteroid Initiative 50 Operations Technical Dr. Gary Turner Dr. Albert A. Jackson IV Horizons and AIAA Houston Section Web Site Laura Sarmiento Bebe Kelly-Serrato Eetion Narcisse Dr. Zafar Taqvi AIAA 2013 National Communications Third Place Award Winner: Section Chair Daniel Nobles Rafael Munoz Liz Warren Svetlana Hanson Dr. Satya Pilla Victoria Wills Sheikh Ahsan Douglas Yazell Roger Kleinhammer Ryan Miller Dr. Steven E. Everett Kathleen Coderre Gary Brown Irene Chan (acting) Ted Kenny This newsletter is created by members of AIAA Houston Section. Opinions expressed herein other Dr. Kamlesh Lulla than by elected Houston Section officers belong solely to the authors and do not necessarily repre- Ludmila Dmitriev-Odier sent the position of AIAA or the Houston Section. Unless explicitly stated, in no way are the com- Evelyn Mirellas ments of individual contributors to Horizons to be construed as necessarily the opinion or position of AIAA, NASA, its contractors, or any other organization. All articles in Horizons, unless otherwise noted, are the property of the individual contributors. Reproduction/republishing in any form

Councilors except limited excerpts with attribution to the source, will require the express approval of the indi- Alan Sisson vidual authors. Please address all newsletter correspondence to editor2012[at]aiaahouston.org. Christopher Davila Dr. Larry Friesen Cover: This view of a cloudless Earth at 06:01 UT on 26 August 2032 is from Shirley Brandt an altitude of 70,300 km. In the foreground is a hypothetical asteroid 400 m Sarah Shull across on a trajectory which will graze Earth’s atmosphere at an altitude of 42 Irene Chan Robert Plunkett km in just under two hours (see the Leading Graze trajectory in Figure 3 of the Ellen Gillespie story starting on page 5). This asteroid is in an orbit about the Sun very similar Michael Kezirian to that of small body 2013 TV135, but implausibly behind current best estimates Douglas Yazell of 2013 TV135’s position nearly 19 years from now. Image credit: Daniel R. www.aiaahouston.org Adamo & Celestia. This page: the 1889 van Gogh painting The Starry Night.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 2 Page 3

The International Space Station— Chair’s Corner 15 Years in Orbit MICHAEL FROSTAD, CHAIR

The International Space Station (ISS), a ter (AMS) made headlines. It was an- will be of paramount concern. This will be a hub for current human exploration sci- nounced that over two years AMS had major part of the upcoming year-long stay of ence, has just celebrated its 15th anniver- counted billions of particles, both elec- astronaut Scott Kelly and Cosmonaut Mi- sary. For any child born after November trons and positrons. Upon analysis of the khail Kornienko in 2015. This data cannot 2000, they have never known a time in data, it was shown that the data backs the currently be obtained anywhere else. The which there have been no humans in idea of positrons coming from the de- ISS is an essential component for addressing space! This is truly an amazing feat of struction of dark matter, but it does not these issues and thus the future of human humanity and it is due to the dedication conclusively rule out other explanations spaceflight. and work of those here on the ground that (yet). Data collection by the AMS con- makes it happen. It is the coordinated ef- tinues. The more we know of how the From the science mentioned above, the ISS forts of those on the ground and those in universe works, the more we can explore can be seen to perform an essential role for space that insure the ISS is continually it, harness it, and ensure humanity’s fu- the future of human spaceflight. The science supplied, continues to function, and con- ture. being performed on the ISS is building up tinues to explore. our knowledge of the human body and help- On the human physiology side, research ing us to build a clearer understanding of the This year alone the ISS has been visited continues on muscle and bone mass of universe and our place in it. The more we by six resupply vehicles, with one more astronauts and cosmonauts, but an in- understand our place in this universe and targeted for late December. In addition, creasing amount of attention is being how we ourselves react to its many environ- there have been four Expeditions given to eyesight. It has been shown that ments the better we will be prepared for the launched to the ISS, each with three crew about 60% of astronauts have had vary- future. This research, in addition to other members trained for years to maintain the ing levels of vision impairment due to ISS research projects not mentioned here, is space station, perform the science experi- extra pressure on the eyes from fluid not just for human spaceflight, but for the ments on orbit, and to do direct education- redistribution in the body in microgravi- future of humanity. al outreach from the orbiting platform. By ty. (Astronaut vision returned to normal the end of this year the ISS will have been upon returning to Earth.) Continuing to So as we take a moment to celebrate 15 visited by 10 spacecraft from Russia, Ja- monitor the eyes of the ISS crew, in ad- years of the ISS in orbit, let us also say to all pan, Europe, and the United States. dition to other organs and bodily func- those who have worked on the ISS and those tions, will build the data sets necessary that continue to do so, “Congratulations on But what of the science being performed to develop effective countermeasures. If 15 years of successful operation, thank you on the ISS? In the field of physics, earlier we are to do long duration microgravity for your hard work, and we look forward to this year the Alpha Magnetic Spectrome- spaceflight, understanding these effects the next discovery!”

Image credit: NASA. Image source: www.enjoyspace.com, the website of la Cité de l’Espace.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 3 Page 4 From the Editor Asteroid Trackers, Mars Rovers, and Moonwalkers

DOUGLAS YAZELL, EDITOR Our cover story by discussion group, so that is now working. with our next issue. That is the industry Dan Adamo (“asteroid Please join us there often with your com- standard. It allows more variety in output tracker”) is a great ments. formats. I first heard about it when the start for this issue. We Dr. James Everett of the Johnson Space American Astronautical Society (AAS) now return to our bi- Center Astronomical Society (JSCAS) started using it for their excellent maga- monthly schedule after continues allowing us to reprint his series zine, Space Times. delays since April of of articles about building an astronomy Now that we are returning to our bi- this year. This issue chair. Dr. Stanley G. Love allowed James monthly schedule, a quarterly schedule is will be online and pub- Everett and me to create an article about not tempting, but a monthly schedule is licized by December 10, 2013, completing Love’s November 2013 presentation at tempting. Maybe the best idea is to pro- our work on three issues in three months. the monthly JSCAS meeting. Love de- duce an occasional special issue, such as Our next issue will be online by February scribed his 2012-2013 Antarctic search our Section’s 50th anniversary issue. 28, 2014. for meteorites. A reprint of the entire 1952-1954 Col- Dr. Larry Friesen and Dr. Dorothy Oeh- Back in 2004 or 2005 Jon Berndt started lier’s series, about 89 pages (Man Will ler volunteered excellent articles for this his tenure as Horizons Editor. He used Conquer Space Soon!) is one project on issue, just in time after our busy few Microsoft Publisher to create the format our minds, but Scott Lowther might create months. In fact, Oehler’s article (“about a will still use today. He taught me to use that. Scott is a Horizons columnist Mars rover”) is adapted from her cover that software in a single long training ses- (Aerospace Projects Review, APR Cor- story for the Planetary Report, the maga- sion of one or two hours in late 2007. I ner) and a Horizons Collier’s team mem- zine of the Planetary Society. Friesen’s was acting Editor for three issues in 2008. ber. article (about the Golden Spike Company, I started my tenure as Horizons Editor on Another idea for a special issue is cli- including “their future Moonwalkers”) is April 11, 2011. mate change, a subject of interest for adapted from his article for the Moon This format for Horizons is excellent, NASA and AIAA. President Obama is Miner’s Manifesto. but no format should remain the same for also addressing this subject. Ryan Miller joined our Horizons team, so long. If all goes well, I will learn to use as noted on the masthead on page 2. Adobe InDesign for Horizons starting When he was living in Philadelphia, he was editor for that Section’s newsletter. Our masthead now shows that Wes Kelly joined our Horizons team as a regular contributor, after writing occasional Horizons cover stories and feature articles. For this first installment of his proposed column, we used his comments from some recent email notes among his friends. He also suggested that we start a Horizons LinkedIn professional group or

E-mail: editor2013[at]aiaahouston.org

www.aiaahouston.org An archive for Horizons on a national AIAA website is here.

Submissions deadline: February 7, 2014, for the January / February 2014 issue (online by February 28, 2013).

Above: The Boeing Way alligator in the Bay Area Blvd ditch in November of 2013. The Advertising ditch contains fish, bullfrogs (at least one) and turtles, and it attracts birds such as Please contact us about rates. Kingfishers (at least one) and egrets. In the picture, the alligator is enjoying the sun- light and going fishing at the same time. Image credit: Douglas Yazell.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 4 Page 5

Potentially Hazardous Object (PHO) 2013 TV135 Cover Story DANIEL R. ADAMO, ASTRODYNAMICS CONSULTANT

1. Introduction TV135 from August 2013 through nearly ing 2013 TV135 was difficult at that time. one orbit period to May 2017 is plotted in From 1 September until 10 October 2013, 2 On 8 October 2013, near-Earth object Figure 1 . Note how this NEO was closest 2013 TV135 was less than 100° from the (NEO) 2013 TV135 was discovered at the to Earth in mid-September, weeks before Sun in Earth’s sky, but minimum solar Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in its discovery. Because closest approach elongation was an observable 77.3° on 18 Ukraine1. Heliocentric motion of 2013 was inside Earth’s orbit, however, observ- September.

Figure 1. Motion of the Earth (green), Mars (red), and NEO 2013 TV135 (blue) is plotted relative to the Sun from August 2013 until May 2017. This heliocentric motion is viewed from a perspective 45° above Earth’s orbit plane, the ecliptic. Time ticks (“ + ” markers) are at 30-day intervals and are labeled with the corresponding date in YYYY-MM-DD format at 60-day intervals. Dotted lines emanating from time ticks are projections onto the ecliptic plane. From these projections, note how the 2013 TV135 orbit’s ascending node on the ecliptic closely coincides with crossing Earth’s orbit inbound toward perihelion.

By the time 2013 TV135 was discovered, solute magnitude H = +19.4. When a km, 2013 TV135 became one of the 1435 its Earth distance had increased to over 17 NEO is brighter than (numerically less PHOs known on 23 October 20133. million km. To be observable from such a than) H = +22.0 and its minimum orbit distance requires a NEO be relatively intersection distance with Earth’s orbit Before November 2013, very little of large, even if its reflectivity is high. Cur- (MOID) is less than 7.5 million km, it is 2013 TV135’s orbit had been observed. rent best estimates place 2013 TV135’s classified as a potentially hazardous ob- Future position predictions rapidly grow diameter at about 400 m based on its ab- ject (PHO). With a MOID of 1.8 million (Continued on page 6) 1 Reference the NASA/JPL NEO Program Office’s article on 2013 TV135 and its Earth collision prospects at http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news180.html dated 17 October 2013. 2 Unless noted otherwise, all 2013 TV135-related data presented in this article are obtained from JPL’s Horizons ephemeris computation service. Horizons may be accessed at http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?horizons. 3 Reference http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/neo/groups.html for PHO criteria (synonymous with “PHA” on this web page) and a current tally of known PHOs.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 5 Page 6

(Continued from page 5) collide were excluded. But eventually the Sentry finds Earth collisions. Assuming tiny subset of LOV points that do collide probability density along the LOV is in uncertainty when only minimal obser- with Earth was also excluded, and PC in Gaussian, ±x values are expressed in vations are available. Twenty years in the 2032 rapidly fell to infinitesimal levels. standard deviations  from the nominal or future, this PHO could plausibly occupy “best-fit” position. A sign convention is half of its orbit along an arc known as the Figure 2 chronicles variations in 26 Au- applied to x such that a positive value 4 line of variations (LOV) . On 26 August gust 2032 PC during October/November signifies “in the direction of 2013 TV135 2032, Earth is very close to the ascending 2013 as additional 2013 TV135 observa- heliocentric motion”. node where 2013 TV135’s orbit crosses the tions were accumulated. The Sentry pro- ecliptic plane from below to above in Fig- cessor computes each PC in the Figure 2 Sentry searches for collision cases along ure 1. Positions near the ascending node plot. Sentry is run by JPL for NASA’s the LOV out to ±5  from nominal. Ulti- undergoing Earth collision are among the NEO Program Office and is among the mately, no Earth collisions by 2013 TV135 LOV points 2013 TV135 could occupy at best sources of data on possible Earth were found within this LOV interval after that time. collisions by known small bodies through- Sentry processing on 7 November 2013, 5 out the solar system . Each Figure 2 PC and 2013 TV135 was therefore removed As additional 2013 TV135 observations data marker is accompanied by an annota- from the Sentry Risk Table the following were obtained, its LOV on 26 August tion of the form “n Obs, ±x ”, where n is day6. Figure 2’s rightmost data point re- 2032 contracted. At first, this caused the the number of 2013 TV135 observations flects the last Sentry processing detecting probability of Earth collision PC to in- used by Sentry to compute the associated Earth collisions within the ±5  LOV in- crease because LOV points that do not PC and ±x is the LOV coordinate at which (Continued on page 7)

Figure 2. Sentry-computed PC of 2013 TV135 collision with Earth on 26 August 2032 is plotted as a function of Universal Time (UT) corresponding to when the associated 2013 TV135 orbit determination is dated in JPL’s Horizons ephemeris computation service. Data marker annotations are explained in the foregoing narrative text. The two red data markers correspond to orbit determination and Sentry processing further analyzed in Sections 2.1 and 2.2. 4 At a given instant, the LOV is a one-dimensional subset of all possible positions. The LOV is restricted to lie on the nominal “best guess” orbit, but other plausible locations lie adjacent to it. 5 Sentry analysis is described at http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/doc/sentry.html. 6 Sentry Risk Table removals are chronicled at http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/removed.html.

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(Continued from page 6) service to systematically sample the LOV vide geodetic impact data for visualization for collision cases previously identified by purposes. terval. Sentry. These cases are coasted forward in time by Horizons as user-specified small The following two subsections document The remainder of this article develops bodies (USSBs) to a terminal epoch sever- LEMUR analysis results from Horizons geometric/statistic data and visualizations al hours before collision. A USSB coast is and Sentry data available on two dates of how the 2013 TV135 LOV can collide subject to the same JPL solar system 17.0 days apart. These two data sets corre- with Earth on 26 August 2032 assuming standard dynamical modeling used by spond to red data markers in Figure 2. knowledge of this PHO’s orbit on 21 Oc- Sentry. tober and 7 November 2013. Orbit deter- 2.1 LEMUR Analysis With mination and Sentry processing support- Geocentric position and velocity at the 2013 TV135 Orbit Determination JPL#7 ing this analysis correspond to the two red USSB terminal epoch are then coasted to data markers in Figure 2. Earth impact at a height of +42 km with The LEMUR analysis documented here 7 the WeavEncke predictor modeling ac- for 2013 TV135 uses Horizons data in Ta- 2. Liminal Earth-Mapped celerations from Earth, Sun, and Moon ble 1 to define the nominal orbit along Uncertainty Region (LEMUR) Analysis gravity. The +42 km impact height is which the LOV will be sampled. Seven reckoned with respect to a Horizons Table 1 parameters appearing in bold are Both Sentry and similar Monte Carlo spherical Earth radius of 6378.136 km and used to create USSB orbits in Horizons analyses randomly sample the LOV for is consistent with the 6420 km marginal sampling the 2013 TV135 LOV. These potential Earth collision cases. The or grazing impact distance given in Sen- parameters are defined in Table 2. 8 LEMUR analysis described here uses the try’s “Impact Table Legend” . Final con- (Continued on page 8) JPL Horizons ephemeris computation ditions from each WeavEncke coast pro-

Table 1. This 2013 TV135 orbit determination was generated circa 21.1 October 2013 UT and incorporates 180 observations spanning 12 days, as noted in its second line of data. The solution is tagged “JPL#7” in the second-to-last line of data. Param- eters in bold are defined in Table 2. ******************************************************************************* JPL/HORIZONS (2013 TV135) 2013-Oct-21 07:50:50 Rec #:752349 (+COV) Soln.date: 2013-Oct-21_03:15:08 # obs: 180 (12 days)

FK5/J2000.0 helio. ecliptic osc. elements (au, days, deg., period=Julian yrs):

EPOCH= 2456584.5 ! 2013-Oct-19.00 (CT) Residual RMS= .34054 EC= .5933521715952487 QR= .9954267524114992 TP= 2456555.7240458783 OM= 333.4318585954334 W= 23.70784723315245 IN= 6.766820228742517 A= 2.447884097442456 MA= 7.405383086758426 ADIST= 3.900341442473412 PER= 3.82996 N= .257346215 ANGMOM= .021664166 DAN= 1.02773 DDN= 3.47271 L= 356.9926052 B= 2.7154528 MOID= .0118506 TP= 2013-Sep-20.2240458783

Asteroid physical parameters (km, seconds, rotational period in hours): GM= n.a. RAD= n.a. ROTPER= n.a. H= 19.418 G= .150 B-V= n.a. ALBEDO= n.a. STYP= n.a.

ASTEROID comments: 1: soln ref.= JPL#7, PHA OCC=7 2: source=ORB *******************************************************************************

7 Reference Adamo, D. R., “A Precision Orbit Predictor Optimized for Complex Trajectory Operations,” Astrodynamics 2003, Ad- vances in the Astronautical Sciences, Vol. 116, Univelt, San Diego, CA, 2003, pp. 2567–2586. 8 This legend is displayed with PHO-specific Sentry data. To access the legend, display the Sentry Risk Table at http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/ and click any link in the Object Designation column.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 7 Page 8

Table 2. Definitions are provided for Table 1 parameters appearing in bold. This dataset is used to create USSB orbits in Ho- rizons sampling the 2013 TV135 LOV. Parameter Definition EPOCH Coordinate Time (CT)9 expressed as a Julian date at which all other Table 2 parametric values are applicable EC Eccentricity QR Perihelion distance in astronomical units (AU) TP CT of perihelion passage expressed as a Julian date OM Ecliptic longitude of the ascending node on the ecliptic in degrees W Argument of the perihelion in degrees IN Ecliptic inclination in degrees

(Continued from page 7) either change implicitly alters nominal analysis utilizing Table 1’s JPL#7 orbit orbit period and can significantly depart determination finds Earth collision cases Excepting EPOCH (a specified parame- from nominal position given sufficient at +1.28653  from nominal position ter), Horizons provides ±1  variance data coast time from EPOCH. In contrast, a TP along the LOV. The ±1  variance in EC for all Table 2 statistically estimated pa- deviation introduces a bias from nominal from Horizons for JPL#7 is rameters associated with the latest orbit position along the LOV at EPOCH, and ±0.001070098. Thus, a good starting solution. In principle, the entire 2013 this bias does not grow significantly with guess at an LOV sample colliding with TV135 uncertainty region can be sampled time from EPOCH. Finally, deviations in Earth would be a USSB having Table 1 by introducing deviations from nominal OM, W, and IN produce bounded periodic values with an EC deviation to values in Table 1 that are plausible with departures from nominal position as a 0.5933521715952487 - 1.28653 * respect to their variances. Assuming no function of time from EPOCH. 0.001070098 = 0.59197545910. Table 3 significant perturbations, such as would provides results from sampling the JPL#7 be incurred from a close planetary en- Because the USSB coast time from LOV with EC deviations. counter, effects of these deviations over EPOCH to Earth collision spans multiple time fall into three classes. Deviations in 2013 TV135 orbits, EC is selected for LOV In Table 3’s LOV sampling, the Sentry- EC or QR produce secular effects because sampling in this LEMUR analysis. Sentry based guess for an EC deviation leading

Table 3. Earth miss distances from EC deviations sampling the 2013 TV135 JPL#7 orbit determination’s LOV are listed in order of increasing EC. The EC interval giving rise to all possible Earth impacts from this LEMUR analysis lies between the marginal leading and trailing graze cases. Values in the  column are EC deviations from the nominal Table 1 value normal- ized to the Horizons variance of ±0.001070098.

EC  Earth Miss (km) Remark 0.5919754590 -1.28653 679,354 Sentry-based guess 0.5919837773 -1.27876 6421 Leading graze 0.5919840948 -1.27846 6421 Trailing graze 0.5933521716 0 105,271,694 Nominal to Earth collision has a  value of NORMSDIST. Assuming Gaussian prob- the LEMUR estimate. In Figure 3, Table -1.28653, only 0.6% from that of the near- ability density along the LOV, PC = 3’s two grazing cases are plotted relative est grazing case found by LEMUR analy- |NORMSDIST(-1.27876) - NORMSDIST to Earth. The leading graze impacts at sis. Table 3 data also lead to a reasonable (-1.27846)| = 5.28e-5 = 1-in-18,900. The 07:57 CT and the trailing graze at 08:34 estimate of PC using Excel’s standard nor- PC computed by Sentry from JPL#7 data CT. Sentry’s predicted impact is at 08:24 mal cumulative distribution function is 5.4e-5 or 1-in-18,000, 2% greater than CT. (Continued on page 9) 9 A uniform time scale void of leap seconds, CT is used as the fundamental ephemeris argument by Horizons. To a precision of ±0.002 s, CT is related to international atomic time (TAI) by CT = TAI + 32.184 s. 10 The sampled EC value for Earth collision is less than the nominal EC value because of Sentry’s sign convention for displacement along the LOV with respect to nominal position. Recall positive Sentry LOV displacement signifies “displace from nominal in the direction of heliocentric motion”. To impart such a displacement requires a shorter orbit period than nominal. If QR (the only other Table 2 parameter capable of affecting orbit period) is held at its nominal value, EC must be decreased to shorten orbit period.

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(Continued from page 8) (Continued on page 10)

Figure 3. Grazing impact trajectories are plotted relative to Earth and delimit the minute 2013 TV135 LOV segment containing all possible collision cases from this LEMUR analysis of JPL#7 orbit determination data. Time ticks are at 15-min intervals and are annotated with 26 August 2032 UT in DOY/hh:mm format. Dotted lines are projections onto Earth’s equatorial plane. Earth is annotated with its equator and the parallel at 80° S latitude. The shaded area is Earth’s nightside.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 9 Page 10

(Continued from page 9) ble 4 to define the nominal orbit along which the LOV will be sampled. Seven 2.2 LEMUR Analysis Table 1 parameters appearing in bold are With 2013 TV135 used to create USSB orbits in Horizons Orbit Determination JPL#31 sampling the 2013 TV135 LOV. These parameters are defined in Table 2. The LEMUR analysis documented here for 2013 TV135 uses Horizons data in Ta-

Table 4. This 2013 TV135 orbit determination was generated circa 7.2 November 2013 UT and incorporates 661 observations spanning 26 days, as noted in its second line of data. The solution is tagged “JPL#31” in the second-to-last line of data. Pa- rameters in bold are defined in Table 2. ******************************************************************************* JPL/HORIZONS (2013 TV135) 2013-Nov-07 07:39:13 Rec #:750134 (+COV) Soln.date: 2013-Nov-07_03:46:00 # obs: 661 (26 days)

FK5/J2000.0 helio. ecliptic osc. elements (au, days, deg., period=Julian yrs):

EPOCH= 2456592.5 ! 2013-Oct-27.00 (CT) Residual RMS= .19007 EC= .5908580294949625 QR= .9954524306344258 TP= 2456555.7325275815 OM= 333.460546709033 W= 23.68872923572981 IN= 6.746628135329265 A= 2.433024481467049 MA= 9.548785351056903 ADIST= 3.870596532299673 PER= 3.79514 N= .259707411 ANGMOM= .021647483 DAN= 1.02761 DDN= 3.45071 L= 357.0031418 B= 2.7053226 MOID= .0117562 TP= 2013-Sep-20.2325275815

Asteroid physical parameters (km, seconds, rotational period in hours): GM= n.a. RAD= n.a. ROTPER= n.a. H= 19.4 G= .150 B-V= n.a. ALBEDO= n.a. STYP= n.a.

ASTEROID comments: 1: soln ref.= JPL#31, PHA OCC=6 2: source=ORB *******************************************************************************

Because the USSB coast time from nation finds Earth collision cases at USSB having Table 1 values with an EC EPOCH to Earth collision spans multiple -4.75804  from nominal position along deviation to 0.5908580294949625 2013 TV135 orbits, EC is selected for LOV the LOV. The ±1  variance in EC from + 4.75804 * 0.000230863 = 11 sampling in this LEMUR analysis as ex- Horizons for JPL#31 is ±0.000230863. 0.591956484 . Table 5 provides results plained in Section 2.1. Sentry analysis Thus, a good starting guess at an LOV from sampling the JPL#31 LOV with EC utilizing Table 4's JPL#31 orbit determi- sample colliding with Earth would be a (Continued on page 11)

Table 5. Earth miss distances from EC deviations sampling the 2013 TV135 JPL#31 orbit determination's LOV are listed in order of increasing EC. The EC interval giving rise to all possible Earth impacts from this LEMUR analysis lies between the marginal leading and trailing graze cases. Values in the  column are EC deviations from the nominal Table 4 value normal- ized to the Horizons variance of ±0.000230863. EC  Earth Miss (km) Remark 0.5908580295 0 88,647,714 Nominal 0.5919525516 +4.74100 6420 Leading graze 0.5919527361 +4.74180 6421 Trailing graze 0.5919564840 +4.75804 330,086 Sentry-based guess

11 The sampled EC value for Earth collision is greater than the nominal EC value because of Sentry’s sign convention for displacement along the LOV with respect to nominal position. Negative Sentry LOV displacement signifies “displace from nominal in the direction opposite heliocentric motion”. To impart such a displacement requires a longer orbit period than nominal. If QR (the only other Table 4 parameter capable of affecting orbit period) is held at its nominal value, EC must be increased to length- en orbit period.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 10 Page 11

(Continued from page 10) +4.75804, only 0.3% from that of the 1-in-239 million. The PC computed by nearest grazing case found by LEMUR Sentry from JPL#31 data is 5.9e-9 or deviations. analysis. Table 5 data also lead to a rea- 1-in-170 million, 41% greater than the sonable estimate of PC. Assuming Gaussi- LEMUR estimate. In Figure 4, Table 5's In Table 5's LOV sampling, the Sentry- an probability density along the LOV, two grazing cases are plotted relative to based guess for an EC deviation leading PC = |NORMSDIST(+4.74100) - Earth. The leading graze impacts at 08:44 to Earth collision has a  value of NORMSDIST(+4.74180)| = 4.19e-9 = (Continued on page 12)

Figure 4. Grazing impact trajectories are plotted relative to Earth and delimit the minute 2013 TV135 LOV segment containing all possible collision cases from this LEMUR analysis of JPL#31 orbit determination data. Time ticks are at 15-min intervals and are annotated with 26 August 2032 UT in DOY/hh:mm format. Dotted lines are projections onto Earth's equatorial plane. Earth is annotated with its equator and the parallel at 80° S latitude. The shaded area is Earth's nightside.

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pedigree, each LEMUR locus consists of determinations. Whereas the JPL#7 locus (Continued from page 11) all possible Earth impact points associated can impact with a geocentric inertial flight CT and the trailing graze at 09:05 CT. with a specific orbit determination's LOV. path angle  as steep as -46.8°, JPL#31 Sentry's predicted impact is at 08:38 CT. locus impacts can only be as steep as Figure 5 co-plots LEMUR loci for JPL#7  = -25.0°12. Second, the center of curva- 3. LEMUR Loci For JPL#7 And JPL#31 and JPL#31 onto a segment of Earth's ture associated with the JPL#7 locus is surface. These loci differ primarily from geographically east of that associated with The EC interval between grazing cases in two effects. First, as is evident from com- the JPL#31 locus due to Earth rotation. Tables 3 and 5 can be divided into small paring Figures 3 and 4, the 2013 TV135 Impacts in the JPL#7 LEMUR locus occur increments to produce LEMUR loci for LOV has shifted in inertial space as obser- from 46 minutes earlier (at leading graze) vations were accumulated and edited dur- (Continued on page 13) 2013 TV135 orbit determinations JPL#7 and JPL#31, respectively. Through this ing the 17 days between the two orbit

Figure 5. Two LEMUR loci of all possible Earth collisions for 2013 TV135 on 26 August 2032 are plotted based on JPL#7 orbit determination data (green) and JPL#31 orbit determination data (red). These LEMUR loci correspond to red data markers in Figure 2. As indicated by steepest  values annotated on each locus, the JPL#31 LOV more nearly misses Earth than does the JPL#7 LOV. 12 Marginal grazing cases impact at  = 0.

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(Continued from page 12) The LOV shift between JPL#7 and distance. Figure 6 chronicles variations in JPL#31 is confirmed by the Sentry param- 26 August 2032 d during October/ to 31 minutes earlier (at trailing graze) eter d. Measured in Earth radii and tabu- November 2013 as additional 2013 TV135 observations were accumulated. Red data with respect to the JPL#31 LEMUR locus. lated as “Distance” in 2013 TV135-specific Sentry Earth impact tables, d is the 26 markers in Figure 6 correspond to the two August 2032 LOV's minimum geocentric LEMUR loci plotted in Figure 5 and indi-

Figure 6. Sentry-computed minimum geocentric distance of 2013 TV135's LOV on 26 August 2032 is plotted as a function of UT corresponding to when the associated 2013 TV135 orbit determination is dated in JPL's Horizons ephemeris computation service. Data marker annotations are explained prior to Figure 2. The two red data markers correspond to LEMUR loci plotted in Figure 5.

4. Conclusions collision has been documented and shown estimates documented in this article are to agree with NASA's automated Sentry smaller than the corresponding Sentry In the weeks following PHO 2013 TV135 software results. Although Sentry output values. Sentry computations for 2013 discovery, predicted position uncertainty is publicly accessible, geometric insights TV135 Earth collisions include an estimate could not exclude a remote possibility of from LEMUR analysis are not generally of uncertainty region semi-width about Earth collision on 26 August 2032. When available as of this writing. Chief among the near-Earth LOV. If Sentry PC values enough observations of 2013 TV135 were these insights is a LEMUR locus of possi- reflect collision cases from a full 3- accumulated over a sufficiently extended ble impact points associated with a specif- dimensional uncertainty region, that could heliocentric arc, however, probability of ic 2013 TV135 orbit determination. A explain why the 1-dimensional LEMUR this collision decreased by more than four LEMUR locus contains all Earth collision analysis, restricted to collision cases on orders of magnitude in a week (see Figure points along the orbit determination's the LOV, produces smaller PC estimates. 2). Consequently, the 2032 collision be- LOV with critical Earth grazing cases at tween 2013 TV135 and Earth is no longer the locus termini. As 2013 TV135 observations accumulated, considered a credible event. It is studied the LOV (as defined to lie within a fixed here purely for academic purposes. A byproduct from LEMUR analysis is a maximum deviation from nominal) came PC estimate within the same order of mag- to subtend progressively smaller heliocen- Systematic LEMUR analysis of the 2032 nitude as Sentry's value. Both LEMUR (Continued on page 14)

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(Continued from page 13) this had not happened before Sentry colli- for mature observation datasets extending sions within ±5  of nominal along the over most of a small body's heliocentric tric arcs on 26 August 2032. Accumulat- LOV were no longer detectable after 7 orbit or more. In the weeks following ing observations also caused the 26 Au- November 2013. 2013 TV135's discovery, slowly converg- gust 2032 LOV to shift in inertial space ing orbit determinations led to LOV shifts on a scale comparable to Earth's radius There appears to be no PC threshold below on 26 August 2032 and corresponding (see Figure 6). The shrinking LOV ulti- which a LEMUR locus cannot be deter- LEMUR locus variations extending over mately caused 2013 TV135's probability of mined, provided the associated LOV in- substantial portions of the Earth hemi- Earth collision on 26 August 2032 to as- tersects Earth. Furthermore, the notion of sphere centered about southern Africa sume infinitesimal values. A similar PC fixed LEMUR loci from one orbit deter- (see Figure 5). falloff could also have been triggered by a mination to the next must be qualified. LOV shift completely off the Earth, but Such invariance should only be expected [End]

[Our cover story by Daniel R. Adamo ends at the top of this page, so we add a few related notes here.]

November 19, 2013

After the February 2013 Earth-asteroid impact in Chelyabinsk, Rus- sia, did scientists review old government surveillance films (nuclear weapons treaty verification) to look for undocumented Earth-asteroid impacts? More than 1,000 people were injured in Chelyabinsk. After that video review, are odds of such Earth-asteroid impacts now once every decade instead of once every century? Once twenty years? Once every thirty years? Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) television and PBS journalist Miles O’Brien reported about those revised odds of Earth-asteroid impact in the PBS Newshour episode of No- vember 7, 2013. A transcript of that television news segment is available on that PBS website. The related PBS video segment is also available for viewing on that website. Above: This image shows why asteroid impact probability goes up, then down. Image source: Wikipedia (public domain). Image credit: Lou Scheffer.

Above: Image source: Wikipedia. Image credit: NASA (2001). A collision between a comet and the Earth.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 14 Page 15 Comments on an Aviation Week Cover Story: Kelly’s Corner Son of Blackbird WES KELLY, TRITON SYSTEMS LLC Mach. What would have been the imple- This U.S. Air Force SR-71 Blackbird ured as a function of Mach. mentation problem? configuration guide (available via this link Curiously, this Aviation Week maga- There is some overall information about from an Aviation Week magazine article’s zine cover article (Son of Blackbird, the thrust and scramjet flight control (SFC) for website) is the most specific description I SR-72, a Lockheed Martin concept) of the engines, but putting together specific have ever seen of the reconfiguration of the November 1, 2013, says that the flight thermodynamic engine cycle charts would SR-71 Blackbird engines as a function of crews had to perform these functions be challenging from the data provided. Mach. I remember some earlier online dis- manually. I can believe that would be the Still, it gives one inspiration to “build your cussions about the ramjet nature of the case on the Lockheed A-11 (discussed in own engine,” ideas that do not necessarily engines, searching for the vents that are this Wikipedia A-12 article), circa 1964, address the needs of the Mach 6 vehicle. briefly mentioned in cross sectional illus- but decades of flight control technology It would appear that by some unspeci- trations - and then turning away perplexed. have been provided since then. For exam- fied development, a turbojet was coaxed to But here's a series of illustrations indicat- ple space shuttle ascent re-entry flight behave productively up to the Mach 4 re- ing four or five channel controls reconfig- controls are largely driven by air speed or gion. I suspect that high temperature alloys had something to do with this development. Usually they are applied to get higher and higher pressure (and temperature) ratios in subsonic cruise turbines. No doubt they have something to offer for high speed flight as well. Now if this SR-72 vehicle is to cruise at Mach 6, what altitude would that be and what sort of leading edge temperature would we expect? The SR-71 was associated with over 300 degrees F (or ~850 R) on leading edges. I can't recall the Con- corde figure for half the speed. But if all else remains the same, say 60,000 feet for altitude, with doubled speed, the heat load rises cubically (x 8) and the temperature rises by the power of 1.5 or the square root of 8? I'd say that would be hot and the SR-72 bird would probably cruise higher. The curious thing about this story is that a proposal presentation is given about as much or more weight as anomalous observations (vapor trails and seismic readings of Aurora, etc.). Both these observations are about as substantive as a Cheshire Cat, but for differing and self-evident reasons. Though I do remember a number of stories in Aviation Week magazine about com- bined or multi-cycle engines like this over the years. Maybe a new engine would not use tra- ditional kerosene derivatives. JP-8 is used for conventional high performance aircraft. Other possibilities are methane, propane or hydrogen. These would be very good for performance objectives, but not very good for operations. How many airfields would have readily available fuel? So what are the other guys [Lockheed Above: SR-71 Blackbird diagrams as a function of Mach. Image credit: U.S. Air Force. Martin’s competitors] planning to do? Image source: Aviation Week magazine cover story of November 1, 2013.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 15 Page 16 The Enigmatic Giant Polygons of Mars Are They Clues to Past Oceans? DR. DOROTHY Z. OEHLER Early telescopes told us first of Mars’ characteristic red color, then its canals. Flash forward hundreds of years, and various Martian orbiters, as well as the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity and the more recent Curiosity rover have revealed details of the Red Planet’s surface, offer- ing clues to the possibility of water and habitable settings for potential past life. What new facts and further mysteries will Mars give up? Perhaps they lie in its giant polygons.

MARTIAN GIANT POLYGONS AND A NEW ANALOG

Giant polygons have been recognized on the Martian surface since the 1970s Figure 1. This map, created from elevation data returned by the Mars Orbiter Laser from images taken by the Mariner 9 and Altimeter (MOLA) on NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor, shows the dichotomy between Viking orbiters. These features occur al- Mars’ northern lowlands (where most of its potential ancient ocean would have been) most exclusively in the northern lowlands and its southern highlands. Blue denotes low elevations and red depicts high. Acidalia and are particularly abundant in Acidalia and Utopia Planitiae have extensive giant polygon development. Image credit: Oehler/ and Utopia Planitiae (Figures 1-3). NASA/USGS. The giant polygons are kilometer- scale in size; most examples are 2 to 20 kilometers across (Figures 2-3). Their outlines are defined by troughs and their shapes can be rectangles, hexagons, or morphologies with curved boundaries. It is the large size of these polygons that distinguishes them from the variety of smaller-scale polygons on Mars, which are typically less than 250 meters across. Similarly, on Earth, most polygonal terrains involve features that are only a few hundred meters across. Because of this, few terrestrial analogs (such as desiccation or ice-wedge polygons) have seemed a good fit for the giant polygons on Mars. Without a good analog, the origin and significance of the giant polygons on Mars are still a mystery. There have been suggestions that their origins involve tec- tonism associated with uplift due to un- Figure 2. Giant polygons in southern Uto- Figure 3. Giant polygons in part of south- loading of water or ice, compaction of pia Planitia. Although some scientists ern Acidalia Planitia. These are dotted fluid-rich sediments over irregular terrain, believe these polygons could be evidence with bright mounds. This image, from the or convection of water through permafrost of an ancient ocean, their exact origin context (CTX) camera on NASA’s Mars followed by desiccation, compaction, or remains a mystery. This image, from the Reconnaissance Orbiter, spans about 11 thermal contraction. context (CTX) camera on NASA's Mars kilometers. Image # B18_016644_2188. However, recent research has offered Reconnaissance Orbiter, spans 29 kilome- Image credit: NASA/ASU. a new possibility of their origin – one that ters. Image #: P17_007713_2172. Image involves compaction of rapidly deposited, credit: NASA/ASU. (Continued on page 17)

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(Continued from page 16) are associated with fluid expulsion fea- tern of furrows develops. With greater tures such as mud volcanoes or depres- burial, sediment strength due to compac- fine-grained sediments in subaqueous sions on the sea floor called pockmarks, tion increases to the point where it is suf- settings. This idea is based on results of which result from subaqueous gas release. ficient for the formation and maintenance three-dimensional (3–D) seismic data Common to all the basins with these of faults, and the polygonal furrows de- acquired by the petroleum industry as part features is an accumulation of rapidly velop into polygonal faults. With burial of their exploration in offshore basins. deposited, fine-grained sediments in a beyond 300 meters, polygonal faulting These 3–D datasets allow creation of de- subaqueous depocenter (a depocenter is becomes more closely spaced, and large tailed plan-view maps of the shallow sub- typically the point of deepest and thickest polygons are divided into smaller, second- surface, and it is these maps that have deposits in a sedimentary basin). Of par- order polygons. This process continues revealed numerous examples of kilometer ticular note, all the basins that have the until about 700 meters of burial, where -scale polygons in the uppermost kilome- large-scale polygons are located in set- compaction by sediment shrinkage is ter of subsea basins (compare Figures 4- tings that lack strong horizontal stresses. completed, and the fault frequency has 5). Until recently, these large-scale polyg- These settings are called passive margins. reached its maximum. onal features were completely unknown, Many relatively wide continental shelves but there are now more than 50 examples are passive margins and are sites of accu- COMPARISON OF of marine basins that have terrestrial giant mulation of thick sections of sedimentary MARTIAN AND TERRESTRIAL polygons. rock. Various mechanisms have been put GIANT POLYGONS forth for the formation of terrestrial giant TERRESTRIAL polygons, but at a minimum, we know The similarities between the Martian GIANT POLYGONS that they involve three-dimensional con- giant polygons and those in terrestrial traction and dewatering due to sediment offshore basins are intriguing. The kilo- The subsea polygons range from about loading. meter-scale size of each stands out from 0.5 to 4 kilometers across and are bound- The sequence of events thought to other potential types of polygonal land- ed by faults (Figure 4). They occur from lead to formation of these large-scale fea- forms. While the terrestrial offshore poly- the sediment surface to depths of about tures is as follows: During initial stages of gons appear to have a smaller size range 700 meters. They can have basin-wide burial, sediment porosity and permeability (0.5 to 4 kilometers) compared to the size extent (some occur over areas larger than decrease due to initial compaction. Polyg- of most of the Martian examples (2 to 20 a million square kilometers), and many onal faulting begins as linear furrows that kilometers), this discrepancy may be only develop near the sediment-water interface, apparent. Some of the newer image data apparently in response to mono- from the Context (CTX) and High Resolu- directional volume contraction. With buri- tion Imaging Science Experiment al of about 21 meters, sediment contrac- (HiRISE) cameras on NASA’s Mars Re- tion becomes radial, and a hexagonal pat- connaissance Orbiter (with resolutions of 6 meters/pixel and 25 centimeters/pixel, respectively) show that many of the Mar- tian giant polygons are actually composed of smaller, second-order polygons that are approximately 2.5 to 5 kilometers across. Other HiRISE images show subtle polygons, about 1 kilometer across, which were never observed in the older datasets. In addition, the sizes of terrestrial polygons scale with burial depth and grain size, such that larger features occur in areas with least burial and/or smallest grain size. These are the Earth analogs that may be most comparable to the Mar- tian giant polygons. Importantly, the geologic contexts of Figure 4. Map view from 3-D seismic Figure 5. These giant polygons in south- terrestrial and Martian giant polygons are data, illustrating large-scale polygons in ern Utopia are between 4 and 20 kilome- similar. The Earth features form in pas- strata below the ocean, offshore Norway. ters across. This view is a mosaic of day- sive margins. On Mars, the general lack of This image spans 6 kilometers. Image time infrared images captured by the plate tectonics would have resulted in credit: Stuevold et al., 2003, in Geol. Soc. Thermal Emission Imaging System many basinal settings similar to passive London Sp. Publ. 216, 263-281. Image (THEMIS) on NASA’s Mars Odyssey or- margins in that they also would lack reprinted by permission of the Geological biter. Image credit: NASA/ASU/USGS. strong horizontal stresses. This is the type Society. (Continued on page 18)

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(Continued from page 17) estimated to occur and their distribution This may explain the differences between overlaps that of the giant polygons (Figure the features of Acidalia and Utopia. of tectonic setting that allows formation of 7). While the distribution of the mounds is the giant polygons on Earth. broader than that mapped for the giant IMPLICATIONS FOR AN OCEAN In addition, both the Earth and Mar- polygons (from older Viking data), both tian giant polygons appear to involve set- sets of features are centered in southern The fundamental question of whether tings where fine-grained sediment accu- Acidalia, and both are restricted to areas an ocean ever existed on Mars remains mulated rapidly. The terrestrial features predicted to have accumulations of fine- controversial. Many researchers have pro- occur exclusively in fine-grained sedi- grained sediment. posed that major bodies of water once ments, and rapid deposition has been im- Utopia is different in that many fewer existed on Mars in the northern plains. plicated in several occurrences. On Mars, mounds have been noted there, and some This interpretation has been drawn from it is generally thought that catastrophic of them may be pingos (diapiric mounds landforms suggestive of ancient shore- outflow floods would have resulted in of ice). Nevertheless, while both mud lines, and the distribution of valley net- massive amounts of rapidly deposited volcanoes and large-scale polygons on works (presumed to be ancient rivers) in sediment in northern Chryse and southern Earth require fine-grained sediments and the highlands that are consistent with, and Acidalia, and recent research has suggest- compaction of thick accumulations of may even require, a major source of water ed that the most distal and therefore, the sediments, the formation requirements for in the northern lowlands. More recently, a most fine-grained sediments deposited by the giant polygons and mud volcanoes can network of channels just north of the di- those floods would accumulate in south- be distinct in detail. Accordingly, the two chotomy that separates the northern and ern Acidalia Planitia—a region coincident sets of features are not necessarily co- southern plains has been re-interpreted as with the giant polygons. incident. They may overlap in some areas, a delta that flowed into standing water. In Finally, there is the common associa- but in others they can be adjacent to one addition, data obtained with the radar tion of the terrestrial giant polygons with another or each may occur in isolation. (Continued on page 19) features associated with fluid expulsion, such as mud volcanoes (Figure 6) and pockmarks. On Mars, there may be features analogous to mud volcanoes in some of the areas of giant polygons, as masses of bright, circular mounds in southern Acidalia (Figure 3) have most recently been compared to mud volcanoes. Mud volcanoes are sedimentary diapirs that rise through the subsurface in a slurry of fluid and fine-grained sediment, as a result of overpressure in rapidly compacting basins. In Acidalia, approximately 40,000 of these mud volcano-like mounds have been

Figure 6. Mud volcanoes - commonly associated with fluid expulsion - often appear with terrestrial polygons. These cold “mud pots” were photographed in north- Figure 7. Based on MOLA data, this map of Mars’ Chryse and Acidalia regions indi- ern California. The one at the right is cates elevations above–1,600 meters in red-browns and elevations below -4900 meters about 10 centimeters high and 18 centi- in and pinkish purples. The red dashed line shows the extent of recently mapped mud meters wide. Similar features, such as the volcano-like mounds. The thin black line in Acidalia shows the area where giant poly- bright mounds in Figure 3, occur with gons were mapped by other authors previously using older Viking data. Newer CTX some of the giant polygons on Mars. Im- and HiRISE data reveal giant polygons beyond the originally mapped area. Image age credit: Wikipedia/Creative Commons. credit: Oehler/NASA/USGS.

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(Continued from page 18) of the Red Planet, but also to our evalua- tion of habitable regions on Mars. If the sounder (MARSIS) on the European northern plains were the site of a major Space Agency’s Mars Express have been body of water, then habitats there may interpreted to suggest that massive, sub- have supported life for relatively long surface ground ice “interior to previously periods. And when conditions deteriorated proposed shorelines” may be the remnant as the climate became colder and drier of an ancient northern ocean. The compar- and the atmosphere thinned (allowing ison of Martian giant polygons to subsea more destructive radiation to reach the features on Earth is supportive of these planet), potential life that had thrived on ideas. the surface could have moved into the protection of the subsurface. There, life CONTINUING CONTROVERSY may have been able to persist within sediment pores, as occurs in the vast commu- But more work needs to be done. nities of endolithic organisms known to Dr. Oehler works as a geologist in the Some question the interpretation of land- inhabit spaces with rocks of the Earth’s Astromaterials Research and Explora- forms as shorelines and others who have subsurface. These would be the areas tion Science Directorate (ARES) at modeled Mars’ ancient climate wonder if marked by the giant polygons. Johnson Space Center where she is con- the planet was ever warm enough to sup- Moreover, if the analogy to the subsea centrating on assessing potential- port a major body of liquid water for any polygons on Earth is correct, then the gi- ly habitable regions on Mars. She was length of time. Work continues on climate ant polygons on Mars not only would rep- recently awarded the 2012 Distinguished models, and research scientists who have resent sites of long-lasting liquid water, Alumni Award from the University of studied potential shorelines are refining but they also would imply locales of fine- California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and their work with the higher resolution or- grained sediment accumulation and burial she is currently a member of the Mars bital image data that are now available. – both of which would enhance preserva- Science Laboratory Mission (MSL Curi- Maps are being constructed to look for tion of potential geochemical fossils. osity Rover) Science Team. She lives in evidence of equipotential surfaces Thus, in the search for possible evidence Houston with her husband, John Oehler, (potential indicators of ancient sea levels) of past life on the Mars, the giant poly- who has just published his second novel, in the possible shoreline features. In addi- gons in the northern plains may point the Papyrus: A Thriller (available via Ama- tion, crustal deformations due to sediment way to prime areas for future exploration. zon), an award-winning book about a accumulation or the weight of volcanics secret message discovered on an ancient ————————————————— introduced in the Tharsis region papyrus. Papyrus has garnered excellent (southwest of Chryse Planitia) are being For more detail and references about these reviews and has been likened by Kirkus considered to assess deviations from hori- polygons, their interpretations, and ideas Reviews to The Da Vinci Code. zontality in potential shoreline features. about an ocean on Mars, see the follow- The newer, higher resolution data are also ing: being used to fine-tune our understanding of the spatial occurrences of the giant pol- Oehler, D. Z., Allen, C. C. (2012). Giant ygons and mounds. Initial results suggest Polygons and Mounds in the Lowlands of that densely occurring mounds and giant Mars: Signatures of an Ancient Ocean? polygons in Acidalia as well as the giant Astrobiology 12 (6), 601-615. polygons in Utopia all occur below elevations of -4000 to -4100 meters. This range ————————————————— is close to previously proposed levels sug- This Horizons article is adapted from an gested to be ancient shorelines and possi- article which first appeared as the cover ble equipotential surfaces and, according- story Polygons on Mars for the 2013 Vol- ly, work is continuing to determine ume 33 Number 3 issue of the Planetary whether the distributions of giant poly- Report, the magazine of the Planetary gons and mounds may reflect past water Society. levels. ————————————————— WHAT IF …

The possibility that Mars once hosted a major ocean is of great importance, not only to understanding the climate history

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Short Report from the Golden Spike Workshop LARRY JAY FRIESEN

The Golden Spike Company held a 2- the Constellation program for putting hu- day workshop October 3 and 4 of this year mans on the Moon could not be done with (2013). The workshop was hosted by the the resources it had been given. Their Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) at decision was to change the direction for their facility in Houston, Texas. the US human spaceflight program and The Golden Spike Company was put an end to the Constellation program. the serendipitous science: responding to founded by planetary scientist Dr. Alan Alan Stern looked at the situation and the truly unexpected. Humans could also Stern. Alan Stern was at one time head of asked himself, “Now what?” He came up deploy in situ resource utilization (ISRU) NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, and with the beginning of the Golden Spike experiments. is presently Principal Investigator for the concept. Dr. Neal said that we need to re-learn New Horizons mission, on its way out to In August of 2010, a small meeting was how to take humans to the Moon and investigate Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. Dr. held in Telluride, Colorado, to sound out back, and start taking small steps in learn- Stern is President and CEO of Golden the idea, and judge if it had enough merit ing how to live on the Moon. He offered Spike. Chairman of the Board for the to pursue. This was followed by a 10- what he called the “three E’s” as ad- company is Gerry Griffin, known to many week study in August through October of vantages humans can provide, and as in the Houston community for his distin- 2010. The Golden Spike Company was things that need to be taken into account guished career at Johnson Space Center, then formed. Mr. Griffin offered the news when planning for human missions: Effi- including a period when he was Director note that Jim Lovell has recently joined. ciency, Exploration, and Economics. of JSC. This is newsworthy because Mr. Lovell, William McKinnon spoke on The Golden Spike Company’s objective like some other Apollo astronauts, was “Remarkable Recent Discoveries in Lunar is to get humans back to the Moon using initially opposed to the idea. Science, and the Scientific Rationale for private funding. I have previously report- So, what has been happening for the New Human Expeditions.” Dr. McKinnon ed on Golden Spike’s plans, and how they last three years? The people in the compa- is a scientific advisor to Golden Spike. He expect to make money at it, based on a ny have been doing their homework. They was chosen in part because, as he de- presentation Alan Stern made about Gold- have been refining architectures and doing scribed it, although he is in the planetary en Spike at the 2013 Lunar and Planetary studies of systems requirements and science field, he is not directly involved in Science Conference in March. modes of development. They have also lunar studies, and thus is viewed by the Golden Spike’s purpose for the October briefed various people. They have deliber- company as more objective. He reminded 3-4 workshop was to seek input from the ately stayed under the radar. Not secret, us that the Moon is key to understanding lunar and planetary science community. just quiet. Some people in the company the solar system, as well as understanding Golden Spike’s business plan is to devel- had observed previous space ventures the Moon itself. One new discovery is that op a low cost transportation system capa- make bold public announcements too there is a lot more mercury in lunar polar ble of taking human crews to the lunar soon, then falter. They wished to avoid volatiles than was expected prior to the surface and returning them to Earth. They that fate. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) would then sell rides to nations or compa- Today, they have - mission. He also reported that the age for nies who want a mission to the Moon. The  Completed a business plan. the Imbrium basin impact is now estimat- crews of these missions would, among  Successfully identified more funding ed to be 3.91 billion years. other activities, collect lunar samples and sources, investors, and customers. Alan Stern was the final speaker deploy experiment packages. Golden  Published an architecture description. Thursday morning. He began by making Spike wanted to learn from the planetary Griffin closed by noting that a new comparisons between Golden Spike and scientists attending what sort of planning, domain, commercial human space travel, the New Horizons mission, another enter- training, and so forth they would recom- has opened. prise which he helped start. He then said mend to Golden Spike’s customers, to Dr. Clive Neal of Notre Dame ad- that the company has so far identified maximize the scientific return for those dressed the question of why we need to go three potential markets: nations (they have customers who intend to do science. to the Moon with humans. One reason is identified twenty to thirty nations that Dr. Steven Mackwell, Director of LPI, for science. This includes sample return, have the means and might potentially be opened the workshop by welcoming those deploying experiments, making observa- interested), corporations, and wealthy attending and discussing the context for tions, geologic field mapping, and seren- tourists. the meeting. dipitous science. Could not this be done Dr. Stern described Golden Spike’s Gerry Griffin gave the second presenta- with unmanned probes? He mentioned mission plan. They intend to use: (1) ex- tion Thursday morning, October 3. He that Steve Squyres, who has managed the isting expendable launch vehicles described how the Golden Spike concept Mars Exploration Rovers, has stated that a (ELV’s), modified as needed; (2) an Earth and company got started in 2010. The trained human field geologist could do in orbital capsule modified and adapted for a Obama Administration had looked at the hours or days what took the MERs lunar mission; and (3) a new lander and Augustine Report and its conclusion that months. And one thing no robot can do is (Continued on page 21)

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(Continued from page 20) as Golden Spike’s proposed flights would craters, rocks, and excessive slopes. be, geologically simple sites might be Thursday afternoon finished with a new EVA suits. The current plan is to use preferable. Limitations on duration and panel discussion. Panel members included four launches in salvos of two. Each salvo number (probably two) of EVA’s would Gary Lofgren of NASA-JSC, Clive Neal will be of one Atlas and one Falcon 9. likely limit how many parts of a more of Notre Dame, and Samuel Lawrence of Their plan has been published in AIAA’s complex site astronauts could explore. He Arizona State University. Much of the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets. If the pointed out that the missions Golden discussion centered on the need for two Falcon Heavy becomes available, Golden Spike is proposing would be very similar things, training for the people who go and Spike can change the scenario to do eve- to Apollo H class missions. Apollo 12 and curation. A point was made that curation rything with two launches. Another archi- 14 are examples of these. really starts with mission planning and tecture would involve two uprated ver- C. K Shearer spoke on “Human Sam- equipment selection. Someone on the pan- sions of the Atlas. ple Return on the Moon: A Science, Ex- el raised the question: are all seismic in- Northrop Grumman has devised a ploration, and Technology View from the struments alike? If we wish to set up a lightweight lunar lander concept. United Apollo Program to the Future.” He listed seismic network for the Moon, it would Launch Alliance (ULA) has developed a some topics that can be addressed by sam- help a great deal in data interpretation, if competing version. Northrop calls theirs ple return. These include: (a) planetary all the seismic instruments respond in the the “Pumpkin.” differentiation, both timing and causes; same way to the same inputs. Everyone Dr. Stern mentioned some of the flight (b) the origin and distribution of volatile was reminded that the scientific commu- systems milestones that lie ahead for sources; (c) the bombardment history of nity cannot impose conditions upon Gold- Golden Spike. He also discussed some the Moon and inner solar system. All of en Spike’s paying customers. However, future capabilities Golden Spike might these require global sampling of the scientists can say that if the customers develop if it is successful in its initial mis- Moon. He raised the question: what in- genuinely wish to contribute to the scien- sions. Those future capabilities include struments might be useful for “high grad- tific understanding of the Moon, here are longer stay times, far side exploration ing” samples? some things they need to consider. (current plans are for missions to the near Dr. Pat McGovern et al. spoke on Thursday also included a poster ses- side of the Moon only), and a rover for the “Lunar Nearside Olivine Exposures as sion. I regret I did not take notes on all the crew. Targets for Human Exploration.” posters, but here are a few examples Dr. Stern’s talk was followed by a Lawrence, Robinson, and Joliffe made whose topics I found interesting: discussion period and then a lunch break. a presentation remotely, by telecon, due to H. Fink showed examples of raised On Thursday afternoon, Dr. David travel restrictions caused by the govern- relief maps of the Moon. Kring of NASA Johnson Space Center ment shutdown. Their presentation was on D. M. Hooper et al. presented a poster spoke on “Landing Site Options for Short- “High Priority Locations for Nearside on “Lunar Reconnaissance and Site Char- Duration EVA Human Exploration and Lunar Sortie Missions.” They used data acteristics of the Marius Hills Skylight.” Sample Return Opportunities.” Dr. Kring from the LRO extended mission to aid R. R. Chau and A. A. Mardon had a suggested that for short-duration missions, identification of sites of interest. Their poster on “Lunar Caving and Lava candidates include Mons Hansteen, Gru- Tubes.” ithuison Domes, Lassell Massif, Mairan P. J. Stooke had a poster titled “Ina- T, Marius Hills, Mare Ruemker, Hor- Like Young Volcanic Structures as Gold- tensius, the cones Isis and Osiris, young en Spike Sites.” basalts directly south of Aristarchus, On Thursday evening, Alan Stern and Lichtenberg, Copernicus, Aristarchus (the Gerry Griffin made a public presentation crater and some pyroclastic deposits near about Golden Spike at LPI. it are treated as separate targets), and Sul- On Friday morning, October 4, Dr. picius Gallus. Steven Mackwell began by summarizing Gruener and Lawrence spoke on “A thoughts from day 1. He observed that Nearside Lunar Geophysical Network there had been a lot of focus on sample with Benefits.” They are trying to identify collection and network deployment. lunar surface locations which, in combina- R. Jaumann then spoke on A Dedicat- tion, would give good coverage for a seis- ed Small Exploration Orbiter (S-LEO) mic network. and Mobile Payload Element. The orbiter Stininger et al. presented a method for would carry scientific instruments and getting precision landing on the Moon also act as a far side communication relay. using lidar hazard avoidance and terrain The goal would be to map resources. Jau- relative navigation (TRN). Their system mann suggested that volatiles may be the starts from a parking orbit around the most important resource. He listed the Moon using a global map for navigation. instruments and what they measure, but It has a crater identification algorithm and stated that the payload is not finalized. He a crater avoidance algorithm. It is de- also discussed orbits around the Moon signed to detect and avoid discontinuities, (Continued on page 22)

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 21 Page 22

(Continued from page 21) think the training of flight and ground Institute (ISERI). His group has an objec- crews has to take that long, since both tive of making a landing pad for a space- being considered. The mobile payload astronauts and ground crew members had port on the Moon. He discussed their ap- element would be a lander with a small many other duties besides training during proach to doing so. It will be important to rover to sample volatiles outside the con- Apollo, but a significant investment in store water, especially if people manage tamination zone of the lander’s rocket training time will be needed. to produce any on the Moon. He thinks plume. From his Desert Rats experience, Ep- this could be done with concrete under the De Rosa et al. presented their paper pler sees safety as the biggest operational surface. His group has made prototypes of via telecon. They discussed landing preci- issue. Voice recognition does not work lunar concrete with no sand and no water. sion requirements and goals. A spacecraft well; the field environment is very noisy, They use volcanic ash, with enzymes or needs hazard detection and avoidance in especially when wearing pressure suits. polymer as binders. Korea has plans to real time. Technologies related to this are The Apollo 14 cart turned out to be more send a lunar orbiter and a lunar lander by under development in Europe. Their plan a liability than a help, and wheels were 2020. Dr. Lee’s group has also made a is to use optical relative and absolute nav- the main problem. To provide an effective habitat for four from soil, using a 3D igation. Their relative navigation system cart for future Moon walkers, it would be printer. has been field tested; their absolute navi- necessary to redesign the wheels for diffi- William McKinnon and Steven Mack- gation system has been lab tested. cult terrain; for example, soft terrain well presented a summary and findings Abercromby et al. presented a paper around a crater. from the workshop. on Multi-Mission Space Exploration Ve- Nagihara et al. discussed heat flow Alan Stern was the final speaker of the hicle (MMSEV). This is intended to be an probes for human lunar missions. They workshop. He noted that he had not seen EVA and robotics work system for multi- have a compact, modular design in mind. any “giggle factor” among the scientists ple destinations. It is a standard cabin that They propose that drilling a hole for a attending the workshop, and not at other can be kitted with various front ends and heat flow probe needs to be done robot- occasions where he has discussed the back ends for various applications and ically, based on Jack Schmitt’s experience Golden Spike project. People are taking it destinations; for example, as a rover for on the lunar surface, and his comments. seriously. Dr. Stern intents to assimilate the lunar surface. They propose a mission They’ve developed a pneumatically based what he has learned from the workshop, mode that would use two rovers, with two system to do this task. They discussed and use that information to help build crew members each. However, if one rov- what they see as their system’s ad- enthusiasm. He will also continue to solic- er breaks down, all four crew members vantages. it inputs from those interested in the pro- can get home in the other. Their design Zacny et al. presented on “Past, Pre- ject. has great windows, to enable good obser- sent, and Future Drilling Technologies Dr. Stern also mentioned future aspira- vation from inside. This would minimize Enabling Lunar Exploration.” This was a tions. Golden Spike intends to use the the occasions when crew would need to more general look at drilling than Nagiha- income stream from their missions to fund go EVA. Their rovers can dock to each ra et al.’s paper. They reminded us that development of next-generation space- other, and each has four suit ports. They drill extraction was a problem on Apollo craft, landers, equipment, etc., to enable also have external manipulator attach- 15. If we wish to extract water at the lunar longer stay times on the Moon, and per- ments. poles, it will likely be in the form of ice or haps a greater breadth of lunar surface In a talk added to the schedule, Geor- icy soil. They explained that drilling into activities. In other words, if Golden Spike giana Kramer discussed lunar swirls, and icy soil on Earth is like drilling into con- is successful, their initial mission scenario why they are an important landing target. crete. You need to use a rotary or percus- will only be the first step for future human Clive Neal made a presentation on sion drill. They have performed some activities on the Moon. behalf of Dean Eppler, a NASA employee experiments to try to learn if it is feasible who was unable to be present. Eppler’s to extract water from icy soil at the drill paper discussed science operations on the site, rather than transporting extracted lunar surface. Eppler considered both the material to a central location. Manipulat- experience of the Apollo astronauts and ing a drill core after getting one can be a the annual NASA-JSC “Desert Rats” op- problem. erations where people field test equipment Lucey et al. spoke of achieving ten and operational methods proposed for meter resolution of thermal infrared spec- lunar or Mars surface operations, in which troscopy and thermophysical properties he is a regular participant. He concluded from lunar orbit. The Moon Mineralogy that to conduct effective science opera- Mapper (M-cubed or M3) aboard the tions on the Moon, crew members need Chandrayan-1 spacecraft gave 140 meter training in both geology and field commu- resolution. They think that instruments nications. He noted that it took a mini- comparable to some now aboard space- mum of two years for each Apollo group craft in Mars orbit could achieve the reso- [Image credits for this article: the Golden to work as a team. “Apollo group” did not lution they seek. Spike Company media downloads, where just mean the flight crew; it included the Dr. T. S. Lee of Korea spoke about an the Moon walker on the preceding page is support team on Earth. Eppler does not International Space Exploration Research labeled a Spikonaut.]

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 22 Page 23 The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Chapter 12 (Houston) Mission

The EAA’s Chapter 12, located at Ellington develop and improve various skills related Field in Houston, Texas, is an organization to aircraft construction and restoration, pi- In our May 2011 issue we started that promotes all forms of recreational avia- loting, aviation safety and aviation educa- our series “EAA/AIAA profiles in tion. The organization includes interest in tion. general and experimental avia- homebuilt, experimental, antique and classic, tion” with Lance Borden, who is warbirds, aerobatic aircraft, ultra lights, heli- Every individual and organization with an rebuilding his Inland Sport air- copters and commercially manufactured air- interest in aviation and aviation technology plane, an aircraft manufactured craft and the associated technologies. is encouraged to participate. (EAA member- by his grandfather’s 1929 - 1932 ship is not required, but encouraged.) Meet- company. The second in this se- This organization brings people together ings are generally from 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM ries was a profile of Paul F. Dye. with an interest in recreational aviation, fa- at Ellington Field in Houston Texas. We The third profile will appear as cilitating social interaction and information welcome everyone. Come as you are and soon as possible. This series was sharing between aviation enthusiasts. Many bring a guest; we are an all-aviation friendly suggested by Richard Sessions of of the services that EAA offers provide valu- organization! EAA Chapter 12. able support resources for those that wish to

Ideas for a meeting? Contact Richard at rtsessions[at]earthlink.net, Chapter 12 web site: www.eaa12.org. Another email contact: eaachapt12[at]gmail.com. As of April 13, 2012, EAA Chapter 12 is meeting on the first Tuesday of month, based on the calendar on the web site. Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) web site: www.eaa.org Scheduled/Preliminary Chapter 12 Event/Meeting Ideas and Recurring Events: 1st Saturday of each month – La Grange TX BBQ Fly-In, Fayette Regional (3T5) 1st Saturdays – Waco/Macgregor TX (KPWG), Far East Side of Field, Chap 59, Pancake Breakfast with all the goodies 8-10 AM, Dale Breedlove, jdbvmt[at]netscape.com 2nd Saturdays – Conroe TX Chapter 302 10 AM Lone Star Builder’s Ctr, Lone Star Executive 2nd Saturdays – Lufkin TX Fajita Fly-In (LFK) 2nd Saturdays – New Braunfels TX Pancake Fly-In 3rd Saturdays – Wings & Wheels, 1941 Air Terminal Museum, Hobby Airport, Houston TX 3rd Saturdays – Jasper TX BBQ Lunch Fly-In (JAS) 3rd Saturdays – Tyler TX Breakfast Fly-In, 8-11, Pounds Field (TYR) Above and below: From Dave and 4th Saturdays – Denton TX Tex-Mex Fly-In Avril Forster’s website, their 4th Saturdays – Leesville LA Lunch Fly-In (L39) F1 Rocket Kit Plane. Source: pro- 4th Saturdays – Shreveport LA Lunch Fly-In (DTN) jects web page on the EAA Chap- Last Saturdays – Denton Fly-In 11AM-2 PM (KDTO) ter 12 website.

[Two issues ago we featured Dave and Avril Forster’s SeaRey on page 15. That link leads to a low resolution Horizons PDF file, 8 MB, 62 pages.]

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 23 Page 24

The Fifteenth Anniversary of the International Space Station OLIVIER SANGUY, WWW.ENJOYSPACE.COM (LA CITÉ DE L’ESPACE) Adapted from the article in www.enjoyspace.com

The first International Space Station (ISS) not have been possible. This robotic arm in different countries work in orbit. This element, the Russian module Zarya, was is also used to capture the cargo ships H-II requires an unprecedented level of tech- launched on November 20, 1998. The ISS Transfer Vehicle (HTV, from Japan), nical and industrial coordination. It is esti- now weighs 419 tons, is home to six astro- Dragon (from SpaceX), and Cygnus (from mated that the ISS program provides work nauts, and involves the USA, Russia, Eu- Orbital Sciences Corporation). Two other for 100,000 people on the ground! In this rope, Canada and Japan. It is the largest cargo spacecraft, Progress (from Russia) sense, the ISS paves the way for future structure assembled in orbit. and the Automated Transfer Vehicle crewed exploration projects with several (ATV, from ESA), dock automatically. It countries working together. For example, Fifteen years ago on November 20, 1998, should be noted that the Russian modules current plans have NASA sending astro- a Russian Proton rocket took off from the Zarya and Zvezda are “descendants” of nauts to an asteroid. NASA’s human Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It the equivalent modules from the famous space program later targets Mars and oth- successfully placed the Russian module Mir space station. (A Mir technical replica er destinations such as the Moon, La- Zarya into orbit, the first element of the can be visited at the Cité de l'Espace in grange points, and the Martian moons. future International Space Station (ISS), a Toulouse.) program that involves the United States, Permanently inhabited by two or three Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan and In addition to its scientific aspect, the ISS people since October 30, 2000, the ISS their respective space agencies (NASA, is also an excellent example of successful moved to a crew of six on May 29, 2009. Roscosmos, ESA, CSA and JAXA). international cooperation in space; com- This was Expedition 20. plex modules and facilities manufactured Today, the space station is the largest or- On November 15, 2013, we have now biting complex ever assembled, weighing reached Expedition 38. Under current in at 419 tons, and capable of permanently agreements, the ISS will remain opera- accommodating six astronauts and many tional until at least 2020. scientific experiments that would be im- possible to perform on Earth. (Continued on page 25) The ISS is primarily a scientific laboratory in orbit. The United States, Europe and Japan each have a laboratory module. (The largest one belongs to Japan.) As for Above: The Zarya module in orbit in Canada, it supplied the robotic arm Cana- 1998, the first element of the ISS. Image darm 2. Without this, ISS assembly would credit: NASA.

Above: Launch of the Russian Proton Above: The International Space Station (ISS) today: the largest structure ever assem- rocket that carried Zarya, the first module bled in orbit. A genuine “school” for future manned exploration projects. Image credit: of the International Space Station on No- NASA vember 15, 1998. Image credit: NASA.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 24 Page 25

(Continued from page 24) spacecraft is the only means of transport hopes to have a new crewed spacecraft available to the astronauts. from the private sector as early as 2017. Since NASA's space shuttle program end- NASA is now supporting private manu- ed in 2011, the Russian three-seater Soyuz However, the United States of America facturers so that they can develop crewed spacecraft to be used by

NASA under a service pro- vision agreement. This time the new spacecraft will not be used to transport freight, but astronauts! By privatiz- ing the crew transportation service to the ISS, NASA hopes to save money while boosting a new business sector.

(Continued on page 26)

Left and on the next page: To celebrate fifteen years of the ISS, NASA produced a visual containing the most significant facts and figures. [The website www.enjoyspace.com trans- lated this NASA document into French. Since AIAA Houston Section has a French sister section since 2007 (3AF MP), Horizons presents this figure using its French translation: something different for our Amer- ican audience.]

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 25 Page 26

(Continued from page 25) The ISS is also a step into a bright future for the impulse of humanity to travel to Additional contributors for this article: The ISS is already a remarkable achieve- the stars. Philippe Mairet, 3AF MP and ment as we celebrate its 15th anniversary. Douglas Yazell, Horizons Editor.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 26 Page 27 1940 Air Terminal Museum at Hobby Airport An AIAA Historic Aerospace Site DOUGLAS YAZELL, EDITOR

These amazing pictures show the attrac- too. Souvenirs include attractive polo tion of the exterior of this art deco build- shirts of various solid colors with the mu- ing. The museum’s air traffic control tow- seum logo on the left of the chest. er is no longer in use for now, but it is closer to the runways than the new tower. I was among the Wings & Wheels event visitors in the past when we walked outside on top of the first and second floors. That provided a great view of the runways. We also walked in the old control tower and around the outside of those windows. Those visits will take place again once the building restoration advances far enough.

On the other side of the building from the runways is Travelair Street. Additional museum parking is available on the far side of that street. The next street parallel to Travelair Street is Telephone Road. Some museum plans show a grand museum entrance starting at Telephone Road. The plans include gardens and an airplane on a stick, a dramatic sight.

As the museum continues to raise money for building restoration, let us support them via occasional visits to their monthly Wings & Wheels events. It is always a fun visit, with lunch usually available for pur- chase from the gourmet truck Flaming Above and below: August 2013 Wings & Wheels event pictures of the museum by mu- Patties. Membership is very affordable, seum volunteers Larry Orr (photographer) and Max Tribolet (pilot). Image credits: Museum website.

This is a bimonthly column about the 1940 Air Terminal Museum, a 2008 addition to the list of AIAA Historic Aero- space Sites. The museum is restored and operated by the non-profit Houston Aero- nautical Heritage Society.

1940 Air Terminal Museum 8325 Travelair Street Houston, Texas 77061 (713) 454-1940

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 27 Page 28 Astronaut Scott Carpenter, 1925-2013 DOUGLAS YAZELL, EDITOR

Scott Carpenter 1925-2013 ciency in the subject of heat transfer.” plane commander) for his third deploy- Adapted from the Wikipedia article ment, LTJG Carpenter was based with his On the eve of the Korean War, Carpenter squadron in Guam. Malcolm Scott Carpenter (May 1, 1925 was recruited by the United States Navy’s – October 10, 2013) was an American test Direct Procurement Program (DPP), and Carpenter was then appointed to the Unit- pilot, astronaut, and aquanaut. He was one reported to Naval Air Station Pensacola, ed States Naval Test Pilot School, class of the original seven astronauts selected Florida in the fall of 1949 for pre-flight 13, at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland in for NASA’s Project Mercury in April and primary flight training. He earned his 1954. He continued at Patuxent until 1959. Carpenter was the second American aviator wings on April 19, 1951, in Cor- 1957, working as a test pilot in the Elec- to orbit the Earth and the fourth American pus Christi, Texas. During his first tour of tronics Test Division; his next tour of duty in space, following Alan Shepard, Gus duty, on his first deployment, Carpenter was spent in Monterey, California, at the Grissom, and John Glenn. flew Lockheed P2V Neptunes for Patrol Navy Line School. In 1958, Carpenter Squadron Six (VP-6) on reconnaissance was named Air Intelligence Officer for the Early life and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) mis- USS Hornet. sions during the Korean War. Forward- Born in Boulder, Colorado, Carpenter based in Adak, Alaska, Carpenter then NASA career moved to New York City with his parents flew surveillance missions along the Sovi- Marion Scott Carpenter and Florence [née et and Chinese coasts during his second After being chosen for Project Mercury in Noxon] Carpenter for the first two years deployment; designated as PPC (patrol (Continued on page 29) of his life. His father had been awarded a postdoctoral research post at Columbia University. In the summer of 1927, Scott returned to Boulder with his mother, then ill with tuberculosis. He was raised by his maternal grandparents in the family home at the corner of Aurora Avenue and Sev- enth Street, until his graduation from Boulder High School in 1943. (It was claimed that his reason for choosing the name “Aurora 7” for his spacecraft was for the fact that he was raised at this house on the corner of Aurora and Seventh, but Carpenter denied this.)

Naval aviator

Upon graduation, he was accepted into the V-12 Navy College Training Program as an aviation cadet (V-12a), where he trained until the end of World War II. The war ended before he was able to finish training and receive an overseas assignment, so the Navy released him from active duty. He returned to Boulder in No- Above: A pair of fighter planes show how aerospace technology has moved ahead. The vember 1945 to study aeronautical engi- F-22 Raptor is powered by engines that can steer the exhaust up or down to enhance neering at the University of Colorado at maneuverability. It is technology NASA helped pioneer with the X-31 program. The P- Boulder. While at Colorado he joined 51 Mustang, still in service when the Air Force was formed 60 years ago, was consid- Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity. ered the premier fighter of the World War II era. Image credit: NASA/Chris Chamber- At the end of his senior year, he missed land. the final examination in heat transfer, leaving him one requirement short of a Above: While the jets rocketed overhead, former astronauts John Glenn, Scott Carpen- degree. After his Mercury flight, the uni- ter and Al Worden watched the demonstrations within miles of the launch pads where versity granted him the degree on grounds they began their historic flights into space and, in Worden's case, to the Moon. They that, “His subsequent training as an Astro- also took part, along with other astronauts, in Expo events at the Kennedy Space Cen- naut has more than made up for the defi- ter Visitor Complex, which hosted the weekend celebration. Text credit: NASA, Novem- ber 6, 2007, reporting on the airshow at Kennedy Space Center.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 28 Page 29

(Continued from page 28) for some overexpenditure of fuel.” The New York Times reported in its obituary Scott Carpenter 1959, Carpenter served as backup pilot for for Carpenter that Kraft was angry be- 1925-2013 John Glenn, who flew the first U.S. orbital cause Carpenter was not paying attention mission aboard Friendship 7 in February to his instruments and ignoring instruc- Carpenter to manually control his reentry, 1962. When Deke Slayton was withdrawn tions from Mission Control. Kraft op- which caused him to overshoot the on medical grounds from Project Mercu- posed Carpenter’s assignment to future planned splashdown point by 250 miles ry’s second manned orbital flight (to be space missions. (400 km). (“The malfunction of the pitch titled Delta 7), Carpenter was assigned to horizon scanner circuit [a component of replace him. He flew into space on May Unnoticed by ground control or pilot, the automatic control system] dictated that 24, 1962, atop the Mercury-Atlas 7 rocket however, this “overexpenditure of fuel” the pilot manually control the spacecraft for a three-orbit science mission that last- was caused by an intermittently malfunc- attitudes during this event.”) The PHS ed nearly five hours. His Aurora 7 space- tioning pitch horizon scanner (PHS) that malfunction jerked the spacecraft off in craft attained a maximum altitude of 164 later malfunctioned at reentry. Still, yaw by 25 degrees to the right, accounting miles (264 km) and an orbital velocity of NASA later reported that Carpenter had: for 170 miles (270 km) of the overshoot; 17,532 miles per hour (28,215 km/h). the delay caused by the automatic se- “exercised his manual controls with ease quencer required Carpenter to fire the Working through five onboard experi- in a number of [required] spacecraft ma- retrorockets manually. This effort took ments dictated by the flight plan, Carpen- neuvers and had made numerous and val- two pushes of the override button and ter helped, among other things, to identify uable observations in the interest of space accounted for another 15 to 20 miles the mysterious “fireflies” (which he re- science. ... By the time he drifted near (30 km) of the overshoot. The loss of named “frostflies,” as they were in reality Hawaii on the third pass, Carpenter had thrust in the ripple pattern of the retros particles of frozen liquid around the craft), successfully maintained more than 40 added another 60 miles (100 km), produc- first observed by Glenn during MA-6. percent of his fuel in both the automatic ing a 250-mile (400 km) overshoot. Carpenter was the first American astro- and the manual tanks. According to mis- naut to eat solid food in space. sion rules, this ought to be quite enough During reentry, there was a great deal of hydrogen peroxide, reckoned Kraft, to concern over whether Carpenter had actu- Carpenter’s performance in space was the thrust the capsule into the retrofire atti- ally survived, since he splashed down 250 subject of criticism and controversy. tude, hold it, and then to reenter the at- miles off course. Forty minutes after While one source has Christopher C. mosphere using either the automatic or the splashdown, Carpenter was located in his Kraft (Chris Kraft), directing the flight manual control system.” life raft, safe and in good health by Maj. from Cape Canaveral, considering Car- Fred Brown under the command of the penter’s “mission the most successful to At the retrofire event, the pitch horizon Puerto Rico Air National Guard, and re- date; everything had gone perfectly except scanner malfunctioned once more, forcing covered three hours later by the USS Intrepid.

Postflight analysis described the PHS malfunction as “mission critical” but noted that the pilot “adequately compen- sated” for “this anomaly ... in subsequent inflight procedures,” confirming that backup systems—human pilots—could succeed when automatic systems fail.

Some memoirs have revived the simmer- ing controversy over who or what, exactly, was to blame for the overshoot, suggesting, for example, that Carpenter was distracted by the science and engineering experiments dictated by the flight plan and by the well-reported fireflies phenom- enon. Yet fuel consumption and other aspects of the vehicle operation were, during Project Mercury, as much, if not more, the responsibility of the ground Above: Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter, right and United States Postal Service Vice controllers. Moreover, hardware malfunc- President of Finance Steve Masse unveil a pair of stamps to commemorate the 50th tions went unidentified, while organiza- anniversary of Alan Shepard's launch into space aboard the Mercury spacecraft tional tensions between the astronaut of- “Freedom 7.” Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls. (Continued on page 30)

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 29 Page 30

Personal life Scott Carpenter Middle School in West- Scott Carpenter minster, Colorado, was named in his hon- 1925-2013 Carpenter was married four times and or, as was M. Scott Carpenter Elementary divorced three. He married Rene Louise School in Old Bridge, New Jersey. Price in 1948. In 1972, he married Maria (Continued from page 29) Roach, daughter of film producer Hal The Scott Carpenter Space Analog Station Roach. He married Barbara Curtin in was placed on the ocean floor in 1997 and fice and the flight controller office— 1988 and divorced several years later. He 1998. It was named in honor of Carpen- tensions that NASA did not resolve until married Patty Barrett in 1999. He had four ter’s SEALAB work in the 1960s. the later Gemini and Apollo programs— children from his first marriage: may account for much of the latter-day Marc Scott, Kristen Elaine, criticism of Carpenter’s performance dur- Candace Noxon, and Robyn ing his flight. Jay. He also had two children from his second marriage: Mat- Carpenter never flew another mission in thew Scott and filmmaker Nich- space. After taking a leave of absence olas Andre, and one child from from the astronaut corps in the fall of his third marriage, Zachary 1963 to train for and participate in the Scott. Carpenter had a stroke Navy’s SEALAB program, Carpenter and entered The Denver Hos- sustained a medically grounding injury to pice Inpatient Care Center at his left arm in a motorbike accident. After Lowry where he died on Octo- failing to regain mobility in his arm after ber 10, 2013. He was 88 and two surgical interventions (in 1964 and was survived by his wife, Patty; 1967), Carpenter was ruled ineligible for four sons, Jay, Matthew, Nicho- Above: The Mercury Capsule, America's first true las, and Zachary; two daughters, spaceflight. He resigned from NASA in spacecraft, shown in a cutaway drawing made in August 1967. He spent the last part of his Kristen Stoever and Candace January 1960. (NASA photo no. M-278, ASTRO 17). NASA career developing underwater Carpenter; a granddaughter; and training to help astronauts with future five step-grandchildren. One son, Marc, In popular culture spacewalks. predeceased him. Speaking from the blockhouse at the Ocean research When Carpenter died, John Glenn became launch of Friendship 7, Carpenter, John the last living member of the Mercury Glenn’s backup pilot, said “Godspeed, In July 1964 in Bermuda, Carpenter sus- Seven. John Glenn,” as Glenn rose off the launch tained a grounding injury from a motor- pad to begin his first U.S. orbital mission bike accident while on leave from NASA Honors and awards on February 20, 1962. to train for the Navy’s SEALAB project. In 1965, for SEALAB II, he spent 28 days Carpenter received: This quote was included in the voiceovers living on the ocean floor off the coast of  Navy Astronaut Wings of the teaser trailer for the 2009 Star Trek California. During the SEALAB II mis-  Navy’s Legion of Merit film. The audio phrase is used in Kenny sion, Carpenter’s right index finger was  Distinguished Flying Cross G’s “Auld Lang Syne” (The Millennium wounded by the toxic spines of a scorpion  NASA Distinguished Service Medal Mix). It is also used as a part of an audio fish. He returned to work at NASA as  University of Colorado Recognition introduction for the Ian Brown song “My Executive Assistant to the Director of the Medal Star.” Manned Spacecraft Center, then returned  Collier Trophy to the Navy’s Deep Submergence Systems  New York City Gold Medal of Honor Less officially, Carpenter has been report- Project in 1967, based in Bethesda, Mary- ed to add, sarcastically, “Remember,  Elisha Kent Kane Medal land, as a Director of Aquanaut Opera- John, this was built by the low bidder.”  Ustica Gold Trident tions for SEALAB III. In the aftermath of This quote is sometimes improperly at- aquanaut Berry L. Cannon’s death while  Boy Scouts of America Silver Buffalo tributed to John Glenn. attempting to repair a leak in SEALAB Award. III, Carpenter volunteered to dive down to  Academy of Underwater Arts & Scienc- In the 1983 film, The Right Stuff, Carpen- SEALAB and help return it to the surface, es 1995 NOGI Award for Distinguished ter was played by Charles Frank. Alt- although SEALAB was ultimately sal- Service hough his appearance was relatively mi- vaged in a less hazardous way. Carpenter nor, the film played up Carpenter’s friend- retired from the Navy in 1969, after which In 1962, Boulder community leaders dedi- ship with John Glenn, as played by Ed he founded Sea Sciences, Inc., a corpora- cated Scott Carpenter Park and Pool in Harris. This film is based on the book of tion for developing programs for utilizing honor of native son turned Mercury astro- the same name by Tom Wolfe. ocean resources and improving environ- naut. The Aurora 7 Elementary School, also in Boulder, was named for Carpen- mental health. (Continued on page 31) ter’s spacecraft.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 30 Page 31

Links http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/carpenter-ms.html Scott Carpenter http://www.nasa.gov/content/carpenter-pioneered-exploration-in-space-and-the-oceans/ 1925-2013 http://www.nasa.gov/astronautprofiles/carpenter/ http://history.nasa.gov/40thmerc7/timeline.htm http://www.nasa.gov/press/2013/october/nasa-administrator-remembers-mercury-astronaut-scott-carpenter/

(Continued from page 30) Books The character of Scott Tracy in the Thun- derbirds television series was named after  We Seven: By the Astronauts Themselves, ISBN 978-1439181034, by M. Scott Car- him. penter (Author), Gordon L. Cooper (Author), John H. Glenn (Author), Virgil I. Gris- som (Author), Walter M. Schirra (Author), Alan B. Shepard (Author), Donald K. His recovery is referred to in the Peanuts Slayton (Author), comic strip of June 28, 1962, after Linus’  For Spacious Skies: The Uncommon Journey of a Mercury Astronaut, ISBN 0-15- security blanket is rescued under similar 100467-6 or the revised paperback edition ISBN 0-451-21105-7, Carpenter’s biog- circumstances. raphy, co-written with his daughter Kris Stoever; describes his childhood, his experiences as a naval aviator, a Mercury astronaut, including an account of what went wrong, and right, on the flight of Aurora 7.  Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961–1965, by Francis French and Colin Burgess, 2007. A Carpenter-approved account of his life and space flight.  The Steel Albatross, ISBN 978-0831776084. Science Fiction. A “technothriller” set around the life of a fighter pilot in the US Navy’s Top Gun school.  Deep Flight, ISBN 978-0671759032. Science Fiction. This follow-on to The Steel Albatross is an underwater outburst of war and action.

(Continued on page 32)

Above: Scott Carpenter at the Mercury Control Center in Florida. Image credit: NASA.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 31 Page 32

(Continued from page 31) Scott Carpenter 1925-2013

Left and below: Im- age credits: Screen capture images from the NASA video.

Above and right: NASA Administrator James Webb honoring Scott Carpenter at the NASA Manned Spacecraft Cen- ter in Houston, Texas, now Johnson Space Cen- ter.

Above: Scott Carpenter in February of 2012. Image credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett.

Above: Mercury 7 timeline. Image credit: NASA.

Above: Scott Carpenter in May of 2011. Image credit: NASA/Kim [Thanks to our French sister section 3AF MP for suggesting Shiflett. the creation of this article for Horizons.]

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 32 Page 33

Address to AIAA Houston Section about James C. McLane, Jr. the late James C. McLane, Jr., Part 3 of 6 1923 - 2012 JAMES C. MCLANE III

NASA’s Relationship with Russia tion firm. My group was competing to win know anything technical. I believe he was is an Exception a contract with the Soviet Union to build a a KGB secret agent who kept an eye on pipeline in Siberia to deliver natural gas to the Russians assigned to Houston. The As far back as the early 1970s the Apollo- Europe. No western firm was doing busi- General spoke excellent English because Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) had required ness with the Soviets, so this would be a during WW2 he was stationed on Long the exchange of technical experts and pioneering job. We had hired an elegant Island in the state of New York working information between two countries who young Texas lady with a Master’s degree with Bell Aircraft to ship P-39 fighter were serious enemies. Perhaps 100 Rus- in Russian language to handle translation. airplanes to Russia. At the cookout, the sians were stationed in Houston for sever- General and the KGB man often said that al months. My father was involved, since The ASTP was nearing an end so my fa- it was not possible that the lady was really he was the Chief of the Space Environ- ther invited the head Russian representa- a secretary. I think they suspected she was ment Test Division. The ASTP docking tive, Air Force General Kolodkov, to some sort of intelligence agent. Many adapter was tested in his NASA/JSC come to our house for a backyard barbe- years later I did some research and found Building 32 space chambers. At the time I que cookout. I brought Brown and Root’s that the General eventually served as head was living with my parents and working Russian-speaking secretary. The General of all Soviet ICBM forces. I’m glad we downtown for Brown and Root, the showed up with a man he identified as an gave him a good impression of the USA. world’s largest engineering and construc- engineer, but the man did not seem to

Above: Family snapshots provided by James C. McLane III. Moving clockwise from the top left, we recognize Mr. and Mrs. James C. McLane, Jr., Dorothy and James McLane. These images might fit well with this article and its description of a McLane backyard barbecue during the era of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Program (ASTP). McLane’s WW2 fighter airplane was named Dainty Dotty in honor of his wife Mrs. Dorothy McLane.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 33 Page 34 Automated Transfer Vehicle Disintegrates, as Expected, Below the Eyes of the Astronauts ADAPTED FROM THE WEBSITE OF THE FRENCH NATIONAL CENTER FOR SPACE STUDIES (CNES)

November 2, 2013 Space Studies (CNES) in Toulouse, grad- that was not originally planned for ATV- The fourth Automated Transfer Vehi- ually lowered the altitude of the cargo 4.) “All of our software has been modified cle (ATV-4) Albert Einstein disintegrated spacecraft from 400 to 300 kilometers, to make this deorbit. We caused the ATV this afternoon, 12:00 to 1:04 P.M. (Paris using the ATV engines. to believe it was joining another space time) during its reentry. station,” explained Patrice Benarroche, The ATV-4 burned with 1300 kg of More calculations the CNES operations chief. waste onboard from the International The CNES engineers positioned ATV- Space Station (ISS). The cargo ship re- The goal was to position the ATV 4 exactly below the station so that astro- mained in orbit five days after its separa- reentry exactly below the ISS. In this nauts could take photographs of the ATV tion from the ISS Monday, October 28, manner, CNES responded effectively to disintegration from the famous ISS cupo- 2013. During this trip, the control center the requests of the ISS partner nations. la. This was a request from NASA and ATV- CC at the National Center for (This below-the-ISS reentry is an activity ROSCOSMOS (the Russian Space Agen- cy), as the two major ISS partners want to study the ISS reentry, which could take place in 2020. The breakup occurred in a safe zone above the South Pacific, the area farthest from all human concentration.

Emotion

A certain sensation of sadness invaded the teams upon the disappearance of a Above: ATV-4 disintegration was record- Tense moments when docking on June 15. vehicle they accompanied for more than a ed by the crew from the ISS cupola. Image Image credit: CNES/Sébastien Girard, (Continued on page 35) credit: NASA. 2013.

Above: The disintegration of the ATV (artist’s impression). Credits: CNES, October 2013 - David Ducros.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 34 Page 35

(Continued from page 34) year from its assembly until Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 1304 hours (Paris time). But the ATV-5 mission is already in progress ... Goodbye, Albert Einstein, hello, Georges Lemaitre!

ATV-4: a Campaign in Pictures

Above: Chris Cassidy, Karen L. Nyberg and Luca Parmitano unpack the ATV-4 Above: A nod to Albert Einstein in the halls of the ATV control center in Toulouse, cargo. Image credit: NASA. France. Image credit: CNES 2013. “Theory is when we know everything and nothing works. Practice is when everything works and no one knows why.

Here, we united theory and practice: nothing works, and no one knows why!” Albert Einstein. [Now I am worried!]

Above: A tribute from the ISS crew to Albert Einstein and to the ATV bearing his name. Image credit: NASA.

Above: A view of ATV- 4 during its sepa- ration from the Russian ISS module, Mon- day, October 28, 2013. On the docking ring, you can see an electrical connector, a connector used for refueling the ISS, some hooks and a pushbutton that gives to the ATV the first impulse to move away Above: An image for collectors! Albert Einstein and Georges Lemaitre at a from the Russian service module. Image meeting in Pasadena, California, in 1932. Logo ATV-4 & 5. Image credit: credit: NASA. ESA.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 35 Page 36

Opinion Climate Change and Local Responses DOUGLAS YAZELL, EDITOR (ARTICLE #6 IN THIS BIMONTHLY SERIES)

A great friend mentioned a May 17, change there quickly leads to quite a few Revkin continues by quoting from the 2013 climate change episode of This climate change presentations. Talks are IPCC Headline Statements from the Sum- American Life on National Public Radio limited to at most 18 minutes. Rachel Pike mary for Policymakers. A few of those are (NPR). Is the conversation stuck? With presents a talk that is very memorable, presented here: host Ira Glass, they tried to assemble an The Science Behind a Climate Headline. Warming of the climate system is une- hour of stuff that has not been heard be- The details are numerous, but her presen- quivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the fore. tation lasts only about four minutes. In observed changes are unprecedented over NPR’s Houston Matters demonstrated fact, that web page says, “talks in less decades to millennia. The atmosphere and in their broadcast of November 25, 2013 than six minutes.” ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow that the conversation has changed. Guest President Obama helped to change the and ice have diminished, sea level has Alex Chadwick presented an NPR special conversation in his major speech of June risen, and the concentrations of green- presentation the night before called Rising 25, 2013. “Nobody has a monopoly on house gases have increased. Seas, part of a new series about energy what is a very hard problem, but I don’t Each of the last three decades has been and the environment called Burn. (Rising have much patience for anyone who de- successively warmer at the Earth’s sur- Seas was to be repeated November 27 at nies that this challenge is real. We don’t face than any preceding decade since noon in Houston in place of Houston Mat- have time for a meeting of the Flat Earth 1850. ters.) Society.” He went on to say, “Understand Human influence on the climate system Have we reached a threshold in this that this is not just a job for politicians. So is clear. This is evident from the increas- national conversation? Alex Chadwick I’m going to need all of you to educate ing greenhouse gas concentrations in the replies in part, “… I am not talking to your classmates, your colleagues, your atmosphere, positive radiative forcing, people who don’t believe in science.” He parents, your friends. Tell them what’s at observed warming, and understanding of also says, “There are going to be climate stake. Speak up at town halls, church the climate system. refugees.” groups, PTA meetings. Push back on mis- It is extremely likely that human influ- The next segment of this episode of information. Speak up for the facts. ence has been the dominant cause of the Houston Matters featured two guests, Dr. Broaden the circle of those who are will- observed warming since the mid-20th Jim Lester of the Houston Advanced Re- ing to stand up for our future.” century. search Center (HARC) and Dr. John An- Andrew Revkin writes the Dot Earth Continued emissions of greenhouse derson of Rice University. The subject opinion blog for the New York Times. gases will cause further warming and was rising sea levels and their impacts on This blog is a good summary of the sci- changes in all components of the climate the Gulf region. ence and public policy of climate change. system. Limiting climate change will re- The October 29, 2013 episode of De- The United Nations Intergovernmental quire substantial and sustained reductions mocracy Now featured the former presi- Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been of greenhouse gas emissions. dent of Ireland, Mary Robinson. She cre- summarizing these science results and Cumulative emissions of CO2 largely ated the Mary Robinson Foundation— preparing a Summary for Policymakers. determine global mean surface warming Climate Justice. Interviewed in that epi- Their first report was issued in 1990. The by the late 21st century and beyond. Most sode, Robinson says, “The prediction is release of their fifth report started on Sep- aspects of climate change will persist for we may have up to 200 million climate- tember 27, 2013. Revkin’s blog entry of many centuries even if emissions of CO2 displaced people by 2050. … We can’t that date summarizes that report. are stopped. This represents a substantial call them climate refugees like we have Revkin begins that blog entry with this multi-century climate change commitment other refugees because there is no conven- quote from the new IPCC report: created by past, present and future emis- tion.” By the mid-21st century the magni- sions of CO2. TED talks are a popular series of tudes of the projected changes are sub- presentations at www.ted.com, where stantially affected by the choice of emis- TED stands for Technology, Entertain- sions scenario. ment and Design. Searching for climate

Above: Two footnotes from page 2 (page 8 of 33 pages in the PDF file) of the IPCC Summary for Policymakers.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 36 Page 37 The JSC Astronomical Society Astronomy Building an Astronomer’s Chair Complete with Sketch Desk and Red Lighting (Part 4 of 7) JIM WESSEL, JSCAS EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH CHAIRMAN

This Issue: were equal in height to the central pedes- Construction of the tal and went roughly two thirds of the way Astronomer’s Stool Support out to the distal tip of the legs. The picture below gives an idea of their shape. A Good Leg (or Four) to Stand On

Earlier, I outlined the construction of the pedestal that forms the adjustable The JSC Astronomical Society (JSCAS) support for the seat, but that structure www.jscas.net alone is insufficient to prevent the stool from falling over. In Rod Nab- This article first appeared in the holz’s original design, he used four 14 December 2010 issue of Starscan, the -inch 2x4s attached on each of the JSCAS newsletter. bottom sides of the pedestal to in- crease the size of the footprint and add For the purpose of clarity let’s call these to the overall stability. John and I permanently attached legs the Lateral scaled up the legs for my considerably Legs (primarily because they lay down in larger stool to 18 inches apiece and a side-to-side position in my car’s trunk). rounded the upper outside corner of I’ll cover the Vertical Legs in a bit more the legs. One thing that I have noticed detail later. This entire unit (the two per- and utilized post hence is that the top manent [lateral] legs and the central ped- surface of the legs are a ready and estal) plays an important role. This solidly available built-in mini step stool, even constructed backbone is the strongest part for someone of my height, when the of the entire stool assembly, and is the chair is nearing maximum extension. logical place for drilling the height adjust- Here’s a picture of the four legs: The next step was to attach the buttresses ment holes, as the heavy hex bolt passes to the legs. We used glue and eight 1.5- through four pieces of wood. The layers inch woodscrews, and regularly spaced of wood are reinforcements for each oth- them out along the length of the leg. Two er, and they along with the pin support the of these leg and buttress combinations weight of chair and my 230 pounds. I am were permanently attached to the central confident in our robust construction effort, pedestal through the use of glue and 3- and the fear of a catastrophic failure is inch wood screws. The picture below absent in the resultant product. The image shows a single leg and buttress unit at- below shows the entire permanently as- tached to the pedestal. sembled unit - complete with the pin placement holes, and the pin itself in the middle height position. Not shown are a pair of handles (for ease of carrying) that were later attached near the top after the picture was taken. We felt that my weight at the top of the stool against the limited surface area of the connection point between the four legs and the pedestal (and the limited screws) was just setting the scene for a leg to either start loosening causing the whole stool to become unlevel or the leg breaking off entirely. Both from a safety standpoint and from a stability issue, we wanted a bit more security in our design. So we made four plywood buttresses that (Continued on page 38)

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 37 Page 38

(Continued from page 37) movable (so that my trunk lid can close) for transport to distant dark sites. The A following picture shows the opposite Vertical Legs are the same exact construc- side where the height adjustment pin pro- tion as the Lateral Legs – nothing is trudes. You can see the pin itself has been changed there, but they have been drilled drilled to accept a retaining pin, which through the legs’ 2x4s (and the center locks into place preventing the bolt from pedestal too,) to accept four threaded rods being able to be removed easily, and a (1/4-20 x 8.5 inches). These threaded rods large flat washer that protects the surface are below the lowest possible setting of of the wood. the height adjustment pin, so there is no chance of conflict. Both ends of the rods have appropriately sized flat washers and wingnuts which are only finger tightened for final setup prior to observing. The plywood buttress portion of the legs is considerably thinner, and for attachment Next Issue: here we used four 1/4-20 x 5.5-inch bolts Making a Sketch Desk which were drilled into positions so that and Painting the Assembly they would not impede the placement of the height adjustment pin which is perpen- dicular to the axis of the bolts. Shown below is a view providing the best angle Now I return to the Vertical Legs. They for emphasizing the removable legs and were cleverly designed to be entirely re- their hardware.

The Antarctic Search for Meteorites: Exploring an Ice Planet by Dr. Stanley G. Love, NASA/JSC JAMES WESSEL, JSCAS EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH CHAIRMAN AND DOUGLAS YAZELL, HORIZONS EDITOR

The featured presentation was excellent space, cosmic rays continually bombard has the air bubbles squeezed out of it, and at the November 8, 2013 Johnson Space asteroids causing a buildup of radioactivi- looks like a backyard swimming pool that Center Astronomical Society’s (JSCAS) ty. Once on Earth, the meteorites are is flat and frozen with little ripples in it. monthly meeting. Dr. Stanley Love is a shielded from those same rays and the The intensely blue color of the ablated ice graduate of Harvey Mudd College in residual radioactivity starts to decay, al- was a sight to behold, and is primary loca- Claremont, California and the University lowing determination of the ages of the tion where the meteorites were found. The of Washington. His three degrees were meteorites. Interestingly, some meteorites Japanese were first to explore Antarctica physics and two in astronomy, respective- do not like water. Water dissolves stony to conduct searches for meteorites. Dr. ly. His NASA experience is diverse and meteorites quickly on a geological time Love related that the United States has ongoing. He was a mission specialist as- scale. For example, when a stony meteor- been sending a team down there every tronaut on the space shuttle STS-122 mis- ite falls here in Texas, it turns to mush in year since 1976. The European Space sion aboard Atlantis in 2008. He later a few thousand years. In comparison, in Agency (ESA) and the Chinese also con- participated in NEEMO missions 15 and Antarctica they are pretty well preserved duct meteorite searches. 16 in the Florida Keys. by the cold temperatures and the lack of Dr. Love had a unique perspective of As usual, the JSCAS meeting took place liquid water. comparing Antarctic field studies to work on the second Friday of the month in the A second major point of his presenta- on the International Space station. Both auditorium of the Lunar and Planetary tion was a description of the Antarctic feature months-long missions with a lethal Institute at 3600 Bay Area Blvd, in the environment. Dr. Love illustrated the slow outside environment. Both have interna- Clear Lake area of Houston. progression of entire Antarctic ice cap tional teams that endure isolation to some To start his talk, Dr. Love related sever- which tends to slide off of the continent at extent during operations. Workdays are al details about Antarctic meteorites. After the edges into the Southern Sea. The flow long. Contact with friends and family is collection at the bottom of the world, they of ice is interrupted in places by things limited. Both share the difficulty of using are taken back to laboratories to determine such as mountain ranges, so there is some the bathroom. His joint ISS and Antarctic their age. The average Earth residence irregularity in ice travel speeds from place experience is well suited for consultation time of an Antarctic meteorite is about to place. Amazingly, the ice is two miles for the future design of any manned space 200,000 years and is calculated by radio- high. The surface of the ice is continually expedition. active decay. As an explanation, Dr. Love ablated by the fierce wind that can blow With some background established, Dr. offered that while the rocks were still in as fast as 300 km/hour. The ablated ice (Continued on page 39)

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 38 Page 39

Above: McMurdo Station from Observation Hill. Image credit: Gaelen Marsden (Wikipedia).

(Continued from page 38) The Sun moves around the horizon, never is at its minimum extent. Some unlucky setting. scientists fly on a C-130 airplane, but the Love provided a detailed travelogue with Love flew commercial from Dallas to larger C-17 cargo airplane is much more excellent accompanying photography that Los Angeles, then to Sydney, Australia pleasant for the passengers. They have only a first-hand account can properly and on to Christchurch, New Zealand, room to stretch out their legs, and the relate. Remember that the seasons are which is the jumping off point for these noise level is reduced. The five-hour flipped for the southern hemisphere, so expeditions since the days of Captain flight in the C-17 (eight hours in the C- expeditions set out in our fall, just after Scott, the famous English adventurer who 130) from Christchurch to Antarctica is a Thanksgiving. Most of the true field time died on the way back from the South Pole. straight line over the ocean. After about is in December and January during the The U.S. has a big supply depot in Christ- four hours the view out the window is less height of summer. Fortunately, the Sun is church. Visiting scientists start with the boring as the coast and Victoria Land up 24 hrs a day in summertime and the clothing distribution center. Everyone is comes into view. White, blue and black temperature relatively balmy, not minus given two big orange bags full of clothes. are the only colors in Antarctica. 100°F like it is in the winter down there. Each person tries them on to ensure they Landing at McMurdo Station takes fit well, since those are place on a 100-foot thick permanent ice worn during the entire shelf. They herd everyone onto Ivan the field trip. All are given Terra Bus. This former Canadian tourist only two pairs of socks bus has big (blue) tires about six feet in and one set of underwear! diameter, so that it does not chew up snow Those who ask are given roads in the summer when the weather is another two pairs of socks, close to freezing. At the landing strip, off but no extra sets of under- in the distance, Mount Erebus is visible as wear. A bit of humor is a dramatic sight complete with smoke that experienced explorers plume. It is the most active volcano in the wait until the trip is at the world and about 13,500 feet high. The halfway point, then they drive to McMurdo is about 16 miles long. turn the underwear inside It looks much like a mining town, and is out. After obtaining 35 not very attractive. Observation Hill is a pounds of heavy clothes little volcanic peak near the town, a walk and spending one day in of about half of a mile. It is so named be- Christchurch, the next cause every day the men who were left flight is to McMurdo Sta- behind at the base by Scott would climb tion, the main U.S. base in up there to look for the Scott party, since Antarctica. It is on Ross nothing impedes the view to the south. Island, which is the far- Alas, Scott never returned. As a result, a Above: New Zealand and the Ross Dependency, the lat- thest south a ship can go cross was erected there in memory of the ter defined by longitude and latitude. Image credit: where the destination is Scott party. Like all objects left in Antarc- Gringer (Wikipedia). dry land when the sea ice (Continued on page 40)

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 39 Page 40

(Continued from page 39) solid waste. That is about twice the per- rain. These sleds are still in use in Antarc- centage of even the greenest cities. There tica today, albeit towed by snowmobiles tica before about 1950, the cross is pro- are about 14 categories for recycling. It all instead of dogs. After the equipment and tected by international treaty. Looking at a goes back to the United States in Oxnard, personnel are deployed, the plane leaves, view of the town from high and far away, California, where it is recycled. Hot water and the landing area becomes the first only a few buildings have something to is also conserved. “Use hot water sparing- exploration base. directly do with people. Everything else is ly” is posted on signs all over the base. While in the severe environment of the logistics. Fuel, vehicles, boxes of things Water comes from desalinated seawater. field, the housing is a Scott tent, named getting ready to go out as garbage, things The desalinization process requires large after Captain Scott. There are two people delivered but yet to be processed. Only a amounts of energy. Diesel is shipped in in each tent. With the stove running, it is small percentage of that is staged to go to great quantities at high cost. The situation near freezing at the bottom of the tent. Pole or staged to come back from Pole. is even worse at the South Pole where it Inside the top of the pyramid-shaped tent, Logistics is about three quarters of costs roughly $20 to flush the toilet and it is warmer. Hanging there in the relative McMurdo base. Support to science per- $50 to take a shower. Conservation is warmth, were boots, gloves, and hats, so sonnel ratio is 5 to 1. Support people drive reinforced at least six times a day when that perspiration and water could be evap- trucks, cook food, sling cargo around, fly everyone walks by signs near the dining orated. That makes an ugly chandelier for airplanes, manage air traffic control, talk hall explaining the cost of electricity and every tent. The Scott tent weighs 90 to teams on the radio, and so on. Similar- how much electricity is used every day. pounds. The water supply for the expedi- ly, in his thoughts for a future permanent Dr. Love reported spending about ten tion was ever present ice. It was chopped lunar base, Dr. Love strongly implied that days in McMurdo, processing about it up and put it on the stove. That is there would be far greater need for logis- 50,000 pounds of gear. The gear was 200,000-year-old distilled water. For fla- tics personnel than scientists. weighed, measured, and stored on pallets voring, crew added Tang or Scotch. Alco- Additional observations about McMur- to be loaded on the C-130 aircraft. The hol is allowed in surprising quantities. do base revealed lots of information. The plane was equipped with skis, which al- Each couple of tents tent has a shared male to female ratio is about 3 to 1. The lows it to land anywhere, and provided toilet (in another tent), which is a gray main building at the base contains the transportation to the field site. Part of the box with a Styrofoam seat. When a toilet cafeteria, so it is everyone’s favorite equipment was secured on Nansen sleds. is full, it is hammered shut and put out- building. But, Love’s favorite building A Nansen sled, created by Norwegian side. A resupply plane takes it away. Eve- was the coffee shop. Coffee and cocoa polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen, is about ry occupied tent has two solar panels and was free both in the dining hall and in the eleven feet long and carries about half of a a battery, which can run a laptop comput- coffee shop. Recreation primarily oc- ton of equipment. It flexes so that it does er and charge an iPod. Iridium satellite curred in a Quonset hut that contains old not break while traversing rough icy ter- (Continued on page 41) couches and a big screen television. They show movies and enjoy open microphone nights. The U.S. Navy founded McMurdo base, and there is a strong nautical pres- ence. There is an interfaith chapel with old Navy anchors on display in front. The dining hall is called the Galley. The gift shop is the Ship’s Store, although it rests firmly on land. Seabees mementos are all over town, with salutes to the Navy “Corp of Engineers,” the U.S. Navy Construc- tion Battalion (initials “CB”). All the buildings have an air gap under the structure. Otherwise the snow piles up around it and the building does not last long. Thanks to the air gap, the snow blows under the building. Without an air gap, the building is buried. He then described the living quarters, and stated the difficulties of sharing a room with sleep shifting roommates. The accommodations are not luxurious. Throwing something in the garbage at McMurdo is serious business. Everything comes in or out in a ship or an aircraft. They are extremely serious about recy- Above: Map of U.S. permanent stations in Antarctica. Image credit: United States Ant- cling. They recycle about 65% of their arctic Program.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 40 Page 41

(Continued from page 40) These flags are used in case GPS does not work. The telephones were used to intermittently talk GPS coordinates are taken to friends and family back in the U.S. in a notebook in case of Transportation was a standard snowmo- computer failure, so the bile. Dr. Love was proud that his sported a flags are a second backup. big pair of fuzzy dice near the handlebars. Search areas are never du- The snowmobile is a meteorite hunter’s plicated, even since 1976 most important tool except for his eyes. when this work began. Walking is difficult because ice is slippery On this expedition, about and clothes are bulky. Also, breathing is 300 pounds of meteorites, difficult because the altitude is 8,500 feet. including a few big ones, The snowmobile’s odometer logged over were collected for scientific 400 miles for this expedition while hunt- inquiry. Most of the mete- ing for meteorites. To conduct the hunt, orites found are tiny. Tongs linear sweeps were performed on the blue were used to pick up a me- Above: Stan with a big meteorite! Image credit: ablated ice, at 10 meter intervals between teorite and put it in a collec- ANSMET 2012-2013 blog entry of December 20, 2012. the snowmobiles, with the wind at their tion bag. No detailed geo- backs with their jacket hoods up. Frostbite logic analysis is conducted in the field, as around and came back eight miles to results from side winds so they are avoid- it is too uncomfortable. Science is done again face into the wind. On the second ed. The return trip is directly into the wind somewhere far away in a nice, warm la- try, the Jet-Assisted TakeOff (JATO) bot- where the snowmobile’s windshield takes boratory. Initial observations include tles were fired. The C-130 carries eight of the brunt of the cold. The hunt is stopped numbering the meteorite and looking at its these solid rocket motors. They fire for when something black is found by one of crust. A preliminary guess is made at its about five seconds. They provide about the team members. Then, the location was type, whether ordinary chondrite or five knots of extra airspeed. The nose gear marked with flags and GPS. An ice auger achondrite. One notable meteorite was a came up as planned, but then the plane hit was used to make a hole for the flag post, 20-pound piece of asteroid Vesta, the sec- a bump and the nose gear came back and a number is recorded on the flag. ond biggest asteroid in the asteroid belt. down! The plane then taxied back to The chemical composition of camp, and everything non-essential was the meteorite exactly match- thrown off the airplane. The team was es the spectral analysis of seated all way back in the tail cone in or- Vesta, and a recent NASA der to put as much weight as possible into spacecraft called Dawn has the back of the aircraft. Following a suc- provided additional confir- cessful take-off, there was insufficient mation. Even so, Martian fuel to return to McMurdo, so the plane meteorites are more valuable was rerouted to the South Pole station for still. Back at camp, the me- refueling. Dr. Love related that the South teorites put into insulated Pole station is at the geographic South containers. Most still have Pole, because the magnetic pole wanders bits of ice clinging to them. around continually. Even so, the flag During transportation back marking the true geographic pole is relo- to JSC here in the U.S. for cated yearly because the entire ice cap analysis, the meteorites are moves about 10 feet each year. shipped frozen, as the melt- Dr. Love closed his talk with a recap of ing ice water would change the layover time back at McMurdo base, the chemical composition. where all the equipment is stored between The Smithsonian Institution seasons, the flight back to Christchurch provides permanent curation and how amazing it was to see living for the meteorites Dr. Love’s greenery again, and his final flight back to team collected. the U.S. After the audience showed its When the field season appreciation, he took several questions on neared to a close, the C-130 his experiences both in space and in Ant- returned, all the gear and arctica. JSCAS is grateful for this great collections were loaded, and presentation and looks forward to another a take-off was attempted entertaining talk next year by Dr. Love for over the course of eight his insights for future manned exploration Above: Katie (Dr. Katherine Joy of the University of miles. The snow was soft of the Solar System. Manchester) with a find! Image credit: ANSMET 2012- and the takeoff ultimately 2013 blog entry posted December 16, 2012. failed. The airplane turned (Continued on page 42)

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 41 Page 42

Astronomy JSC Astronomical Society (JSCAS) Calendar Upcoming Items from the JSCAS Calendar (Copied on December 4, 2013) JSCAS meetings are held on the second Friday of every month at 7:30 P.M. in the auditorium of the USRA building (almost always at this location): 3600 Bay Area Blvd, at the SW corner of the intersection with Middlebrook Drive. 2013 December 10, 2013: Tuesday, Star Party, Hyde Elementary School, 3700 E. FM 518 (Deke Slayton Hwy), League City TX 77573, 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM December 13, 2013: Winter Solstice Party 2014 January 10, 2014: Bob Taylor, 2013 Astronomy Y ear in Review January 30, 2014: Thursday, 5:30 – 7:00 PM, Star Party, J.D. Parks Elementary School, 3302 San Augustine, Pasadena TX 77503 February 14, 2014: Don Halter, subject TBA (To Be Announced) (Continued from page 41) March 14, 2014: Annie Wargetz, subject TBA (To Be Announced) March 27 - 30, 2014: JSCAS trip to Fort McKavett April 11, 2014: Paul Maley, subject TBA (To Be Announced) April 24 - 27, 2014: Tentative, JSCAS trip to Fort McKavett May 9, 2014: Dr. Stanley Love, subject TBA (To Be Announced) May 25-June 1, 2014: Texas Star Party

Below: Education and public outreach from the Lunar and Planetary Institute includes “Cosmic Explorations: A Speaker Series.”

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/lectures

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 42 Page 43

Comet ISON: AWOL Astronomy DR. PATRICK E. RODI

Comet ISON (a.k.a C/2012 S1) was Thanksgiving Day and experienced sur- ety of spacecraft from the United States, discovered in September 2012 by Russian face temperatures that were predicted to and other countries, were observing the astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom approach 5,000° F. What happened next is comet’s close encounter with the Sun. Novichonok using data from the Interna- still open to debate, but the latest infor- Figure 1 shows a series of images ob- tional Scientific Optical Network (ISON). mation is that the comet broke up during tained by NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric This sungrazing comet passed within its close approach. What is left is a dust Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. (Time is 730,000 miles above the Sun’s surface on cloud with no discernable nucleus. A vari- increasing from left to right.)

Figure 1. Comet ISON photographed after perihelion by SOHO. Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and the Europe- an Space Agency (ESA).

These images clearly show comet ma- If a nucleus or any other outgassing ing within two degrees of Polaris on 8 terial moving away from the Sun. By mid- material remain, it may become visible as January, 2014. Earth will pass near the December, what is left of the comet is it moves away from the Sun. A figure in a comet’s path around January 14-15, 2014. expected to have moved sufficiently far Sky & Telescope (The Essential Guide to Any remaining comet material could cre- from the Sun to permit viewing by the Astronomy) article shows the originally ate a meteor shower. Hubble Space Telescope. If any nucleus predicted location of the comet in early Comet ISON is most definitely AWOL remains, it should be visible at that time. December. Scientists continue to examine (Absent WithOut Leave), to the disap- NASA has released a composite video the dust cloud to determine what materials pointment of many observers on Earth. (available for viewing on YouTube) comprised the comet. showing the ISON passes from a number Its original outbound trajectory will of different spacecraft. take it north on the celestial sphere, pass-

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 43 Page 44

All calendar items are subject to change without notice. Section council meetings (email secretary2013[at]aiaahouston.org) Time: 5:30 - 6:30 PM usually Day: First Tuesday of most months except for holidays. (December 10, 2013 meeting) Location: NASA/JSC Gilruth Center is often used. The room varies.

Recent Section Events 25 October 2013, Workshop on Automation & Robotics (WAR), Dr. Zafar Taqvi 7 November 2013, Professional development event, 6:30—8:30 PM, Fuddruckers

13 November 2013, Lunch-and-learn, Global Warming Effects (GWE) on the Operations of Human Infrastructure, by John M. Dolorio, organized by BeBe Kelly-Serrato. 10 December 2013, Lunch-and-learn, Dr. Michael Lembeck, Space 3.0: How to be Successful without Drinking the Kool-Aid

Upcoming Section events Audiobook in work by Ted Kenny, NASA/JSC, Chair, AIAA Houston Section History technical committee, Suddenly Tomorrow Came, A History of JSC. The author of this 1993 book is Henry C. Dethloff. See that web page for author information and a short bio. 25 January 2014: Annual Mars Rover Event from the University of Houston with Dr. Edgar Bering (not a Section event)

2014 Conferences www.aiaa.org (Events link) 13 - 17 January 2014, National Harbor, Maryland, 16th AIAA Non-Deterministic Approaches Conference 13 - 17 January 2014, National Harbor, Maryland, 22nd AIAA/ASME/AHS Adaptive Struc- tures Conference 13 - 17 January 2014, National Harbor, Maryland, 32nd ASME Wind Energy Symposium 13 - 17 January 2014, National Harbor, Maryland, 52nd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting 13 - 17 January 2014, National Harbor, Maryland, 55th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference 13 - 17 January 2014, National Harbor, Maryland, 7th Symposium on Space Resource Utili- zation 13 - 17 January 2014, National Harbor, Maryland, AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Con- ference 13 - 17 January 2014, National Harbor, Maryland, AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference 13 - 17 January 2014, National Harbor, Maryland, AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technolo- gies Conference 13 - 17 January 2014, National Harbor, Maryland, AIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition (SciTech2014) 13 - 17 January 2014, National Harbor, Maryland, AIAA Spacecraft Structures Conference (formerly the AIAA Gossamer Systems Forum) 26 - 30 January 2014, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 24th AAS/AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Meeting 27 - 30 January 2014, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium (RAMS) 2014 2 - 6 February 2014, Atlanta, Georgia, American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting 1 - 8 March 2014, Big Sky, Montana, 2014 IEEE Aerospace Conference 24 - 26 March 2014, Lille, France, 49th International Symposium of Applied Aerodynamics 30 April 2014, Washington, DC, 2014 Aerospace Spotlight Awards Gala 5 - 9 May 2014, Pasadena, California, SpaceOps 2014 26 - 28 May 2014, St. Petersburg, Russia, the 21st St. Petersburg International Conference on Integrated Navigation Systems 5 June 2014, Williamsburg, Virginia, 2014 Aerospace Today and Tomorrow

Calendar 16 - 20 June 2014, Atlanta, Georgia, 11th AIAA/ASME Joint Thermophysics and Heat Transfer Conference

Horizons: published bimonthly by the end of February, April, June, August, October & December at www.aiaahouston.org.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 44 Page 45 Cranium Crunchers Section News DR. STEVEN E. LEE AND SHEN GE

In this issue, a problem is posed in which This enemy ship is out for your destruc- that both you and the enemy ship can ac- you are a starship captain exploring deep tion but can move at only half the rate of celerate to your maximum speed instanta- space. While far from home, you enter an your ship in normal space. Seeing that you neously, can you devise a strategy where- anomalous spherical region of space hav- are almost helpless but not wanting to by you can reach the edge of this space ing a radius of one light year in which the become trapped as well, the enemy ship and then travel at your maximum speed in speed you can attain with your warp drive stations itself at the perimeter of the normal space to escape the enemy ship? engines as compared to that in normal anomalous region. Obviously, if you head space is reduced by a factor of eight. Un- straight for any point on the surface of this Email answers at steven-dot-e-dot-everett fortunately, while mired in the very center sphere, the enemy ship, travelling at four at boeing-dot-com. of this region, a ship from a warlike times your present speed along the outside neighboring star system comes upon you. of the sphere, can catch you. Assuming

Images: Warp drive? Above: Two images based on Dr. Harold “Sonny” White’s theoretical findings. Images are rendered by Mark Rademaker with artwork and inputs from Mike Okuda. They are copied here from page 3 of the May / June 2013 issue of Horizons. Left: Image from Dr. White’s article starting on page 26 of the January / February 2012 issue of Horizons. “Inflation: Alcubierre Metric. Warp Drive Metric. York Time. Shaping Function.” [Here is another Cranium Cruncher from Shen Ge. The solution will be presented here in our next issue.] One day while inspecting workers at the river unloading grain from a boat, a king decided to test his son's intelligence. He asked the boy to measure the weight of an elephant nearby. The only scale available was a small

one for weighing sacks of grain. How can this be done? Shen Ge presents the solution to the chess puzzle on page 37 of our earlier issue of Ho- rizons: 1. Bb1 b2 2. Ra2 b3 3. Ra3 b4 4. Ra4 b5 5. Ra5 b6 6. Be4 mate Notation: On each line, white moves first. An upper case letter is a piece (B for bishop and R for rook). A lower Shen Ge found this chess puzzle for Ho- case letter followed by a rizons. It is proposed by Tim Krabbé, a number shows the desti- Above: The World Chess Championship 2013 was a match former championship chess player and nation. The upper case between reigning world champion Viswanathan Anand and puzzle maker. White can checkmate letter is omitted for challenger Magnus Carlsen, to determine the 2013 World black in six moves. What are the moves? pawns. Chess Champion. It was held from 9 to 22 November 2013 in Chennai, India, under the auspices of FIDE (the World Above: Our first chess challenge was presented on page 37 of our Chess Federation). Carlsen won the match 6½–3½ after ten July / August 2013 issue. The solution was presented on page 4 of of the twelve scheduled games, becoming the new world our prior issue. They are presented here together. chess champion. Text and image credit: Wikipedia.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 45

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Section News Right: Gaia orbit, navigation, and observation principle. Image credit: Euro- pean Space Agency (ESA).

Gaia is an ambitious mission to chart a three-dimensional map of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, in the process revealing the composition, formation and evolution of the Galaxy. Gaia will provide unprecedented positional and radial velocity measurements with the accuracies needed to produce a stereoscopic and kinematic census of about one billion stars in our Galaxy and throughout the Local Group. This amounts to about 1 per cent of the Galactic stellar population.

Left: Artist’s impression of the Gaia spacecraft. Image credit: European Space Agency (ESA). Planned launch date: December 13, 2013.

Association Aéronautique et Astronautique de France (3AF)

Sister Section of AIAA Houston Section since 2007 Jumelée avec AIAA Houston Section depuis 2007

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 46

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Section News

From AIAA Daily Launch

New Time-Lapse Video Taken From The ISS Praised Jason Major at Universe Today (12/4, Major) writes that David Peterson has assembled a time- lapse video of photos taken by ISS astronauts, “many of them by Don Pettit during Expedition 31,” that is “well worth two minutes” of anyone’s Above: The Great Lakes of the United States of America photographed by time to view. The video is titled “The World Out- International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 31. Image credit: NASA. side My Window.”

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)

www.aiaahouston.org P.O. Box 57524 Webster, TX 77598 Downloaded October 29, 2013

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 47 Page 48

Student Section Rice University AIAA Student Section Advisor: Professor Andrew Meade, meade[at]rice.edu News 713-348-5880, www.ruf.rice.edu/~meade/

[Below: This article is adapted from its publication on a Rice University website. The Houston Chronicle published an article describing the resolution of this issue. The article is dated December 21, 2011. The Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) also published an article describing the resolution of this issue. The article is dated June 1, 2012.]

Rice Earth Science professor refuses publication of report with systematic deletions Texas state environmental agency accused of censorship relating to climate change findings Dr. John Anderson, Rice University's W. Maurice Ewing Professor of Oceanography, charges that The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has systematically omitted all references to climate change and sea-level rise from an article he wrote about changes in Galveston Bay. The deletions by the Texas agency are ideological and political, said Dr. Anderson. “I don't think there is any question but that their motive is to tone this thing down as it relates to global change,” Anderson said. “...It's not about the science. It's all politics.” “Anderson said the TCEQ won't allow the article—written for a report by the TCEQ's Galveston Bay Estuary Program—to be published without the deletions. That, and Anderson's refusal to accept the changes, are holding up publication of The State of the Bay, a periodic report published by the program.” The rest of the Houston Chronicle (October 10, 2011) article is here. Additional media coverage on this issue: UPI.com (October 14, 2011) - Scientists Revolt over Texas Censorship The Guardian (UK), October 14, 2011 - Rick Perry officials spark revolt after doctoring environment report New Scientist (October 17, 2011) - Texas officials censored climate change report

[The student section is not associated with climate change studies, but climate change is a subject of interest for AIAA and NASA.]

SAVE THE DATE! Traditionally in Region IV we provide a travel stipend to stu- The 2014 AIAA Region IV Student Paper Conference dents attending the conference. The conference has usually been held somewhere in the Texas triangle, and travel distances have This event is gearing up. This year we will be in Albuquer- been relatively short for students in the Houston area. This year, que, NM on April 11-12. Details will be posted here as they be- with the additional travel distance, expenses are going to be come available. much higher and we are going to look much harder for the finan- The Student Paper Conference provides students from the cial support to cover travel. It would be useful in our search for region with an opportunity to present their research in a confer- sponsorship to have an early idea of how many students are plan- ence environment and to network with other students and profes- ning to attend. If you know that you are likely to attend, please sionals from around the region while competing for the coveted drop an email to [email protected] with your “Best Paper” awards. name and university affiliation, and if available, a vague area of Registration is not yet open, but with the conference so far your research (e.g. life science, aeronautic structures, computer away this year, we are encouraging our student sections to plan simulation, etc.). This does not commit you to anything. This just ahead. Now is a good time for all students to be thinking about provides additional data for the organizing committee as they whether they would like to attend, what they would like to pre- pursue funding. sent, and how to go about getting research ready for presenta- Now is also a good time for students, particularly those veter- tion. ans of previous conferences, to be thinking about what they want to get out of the conference. Any ideas at this point - what has worked or failed to work in the past, what has been missing in the past, any suggestions at all - will be forwarded to the planning committee as we try to make this the best possible experience for the region's students. Please, be creative, and send your ideas to [email protected].

Above: Image credit: Rice University. Student Section News: Please send inputs to Dr. Gary Turner, our College and Co-Op Chair. His e-mail address is: collegecoop2013[at]aiaahouston.org. His backup for this task is Editor Douglas Yazell: editor2013[at]aiaahouston.org. Our Sec- tion’s web page lists the related websites. We publish most bimonthly issues of Horizons at www.aiaahouston.org by the last day of each even-numbered month, and the submissions deadline is three weeks earlier. The November / December issue is an exception. It is published by December 10, not December 31.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 48 Page 49

Website: http://stuorg-sites.tamu.edu/~aiaa/ Student Section Faculty advisor: Professor John E. Hurtado News jehurtado[at]tamu.edu, 979-845-1659.

Facebook American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics: Texas A&M Chapter See the prior page for an announcement Twitter @AIAA_TAMU about the 2014 AIAA LinkedIn AIAA - Texas A&M University Chapter Region IV Student Paper Conference.

Chair Rahul Venkatraman acepilotrjv [at] tamu.edu Student Section News Vice Chair Alejandro Azocar alejandroazocar [at] tamu.edu Please send inputs to Dr. Gary Turner, our College Treasurer Steve Anderson andeste [at] tamu.edu and Co-Op Chair. His e-mail address is: Secretary Sam Hansen hansen_s08 [at] tamu.edu collegecoop2013[at]aiaahouston.org. His backup Speaker Chair Jacob Shaw jashaw94 [at] tamu.edu for this task is Editor Douglas Yazell: Activity Chair Kristin Ehrhardt kristin159 [at] tamu.edu editor2013[at]aiaahouston.org. Our Section’s web Publicity Chair Nick Page npage340 [at] tamu.edu page lists the related websites. We publish most SEC Representative Nhan Phan Trongnhanphan [at] tamu.edu bimonthly issues of our Horizons newsletter at Webmaster Nick Page npage340 [at] tamu.edu www.aiaahouston.org by the last day of each even- Graduate Class Rep. Chris Greer gree5362 [at] tamu.edu numbered month. The submissions deadline is three Senior Class Rep. Nicholas Ortiz ibesmokin [at] tamu.edu weeks earlier. The November / December issue is Freshman Class Rep. Farid Saemi farid.saemi [at] gmail.com an exception. It is published by December 10, not December 31. Experts on Climate Change Texas A&M University TAMU Times article September 26, 2013, adapted from the press release [The student section is not associated Gerald North with climate change studies, but climate change Global climate change and modeling, statistics, IPCC process is a subject of interest for AIAA and NASA.] [email protected], 979.845.8077 Andrew Dessler Climate change drivers and mechanisms, policy [email protected], 979.862.1427 John Nielsen-Gammon Global & regional climate change, Texas climate, extreme climatic events [email protected], 979.862.2248 Gunnar Schade Greenhouse gases & global carbon cycle, climate-chemistry interactions [email protected], 979.845.0633 Don Collins Atmospheric particles and climate, geoengineering [email protected], 979.845.6324 Andrew Klein Climate change and tropical glaciers [email protected], 979.845.5219 Achim Stoessel Polar oceans in climate models [email protected], 979.862.4170 R. Saravanan Variability and predictability of global climate [email protected], 979.845.0175 Debbie Thomas Past climates [email protected], 979.862.7742 Ethan Grossman Past climates Nick Page (2016) Publicity Chair & Webmaster [email protected], 979.845.0637 From: Tampa, Florida Steven Quiring Career Interests: Weapon Systems Climate and Water Favorite Quote: “My homework is finally done, [email protected], 979.458.1712 now I can sleep!” (Me, after a long night)

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 49

AIAA Houston Section P.O. Box 57524 Webster, TX 77598

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

[See the NASA Asteroid Initiative Ideas Synthesis Workshop website for more information about the NASA Asteroid Redi- rect Mission (ARM). Charts: Robert Lightfoot/NASA.]

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AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 50